The rise of direct taxes

The fall in the share of direct taxes may have been caused as much due to their tepid growth rates of 9% and 7% in 2014-15 and 2015-16, respectively

Direct taxes data, released by the government two days ago, reveals a lot about how the Narendra Modi government has managed its tax administration. In 2013-14, the last year of the Manmohan Singh government, the share of direct taxes (largely composed of individual income tax and corporation tax) in total central taxes had reached 56 per cent, a few notches lower than the record high of 61 per cent in 2009-10.

In its first year, the Modi government maintained the direct taxes' share in total central taxes at the same level of 56 per cent. But the downhill journey of the