Taxation of Agriculture Some Basic Issues

It has been argued that if land revenue were replaced by a tax on agricultural incomes as part of an integrated system of income taxation, the loss of revenue as a result of abolition of land revenue would be more than made up and, in addition, a major loophole in the existing system of income taxation would be plugged and a measure of much-needed equity introduced in taxation of the agricultural sector, Comparison of land revenue with agricultural income-tax, suggests, however, that from the point of ensuring efficient use of land the superiority of land revenue is absolute. Since land revenue is a fixed charge, the marginal rate of tax is zero. Thus the incentives for additional effort and investment to raise the productivity of land are left unimpaired.