A Study of Tax Reforms in India

The study has made an attempt to examine the various dimensions of tax reforms in India since 1991. By using the Economic Survey data of the Government of India for the period of 1990-91 to 2006-07 time series analysis technique has been used to highlight the levels and trends of tax revenue of India, and correlation and multiple regression analysis techniques have been used to examine the effects of the taxes on gross tax revenue of India for the period of 1990-91 to 2006-07. The present study shows that there has been a significant progress in tax reforms in India in the recent years and that has help to enhance the tax-GDP ratio close to the levels that prevailed prior to significant reduction in customs. The tax system has great positive implications for India's economy and the tax reforms would help reduce revenue deficit and lower fiscal deficit. However, the implementation of the tax and fiscal reforms should reduce both the tax evasion and cost compliance that should eliminate most of the distorted behaviour coming from the tax avoidance in India for achieving the targets of implications of the tax reforms in India.