A tale of two taxes

The trajectories of corporate and minimum alternate tax do not reveal tax policy rationale

An unwarranted result of the growing complexity of corporate tax is decline in revenues reflecting tax incentives and tax avoidance through transfer pricing and questionable corporate structures. No matter how streamlined at the outset, the corporate tax acquires concessions over time for a focused interest group with financial clout. The minimum alternate tax (MAT) has been popular among policy-makers of different governments as an antidote. Internationally, various MAT bases have been used including gross assets, sales or turnover. In India, it is a particularly defined book profits. 

By improving tax contribution, MAT enables movement closer to the original intention of