A Tax is a compulsory payment made by the citizens of a country to the government to meet expenditures of public authorities and for the common welfare of all, without any expectations of any specified and special returns from the Government.

According to Seligman – “A tax is a compulsory contribution from a person to the government to defray the expenses incurred in the common interest of all without reference to special benefits conferred.”

Characteristics of Tax

• It is a compulsory contribution, a person cannot evade tax but refrain from paying it by not consuming a taxed product or service.
• It is spent on public welfare activities – generally non-tax payers are benefitted more from it than tax payers.
• It does not provide a specific benefit – According to Pigoo – “The essence of tax is the absence of a direct quid-pro-quo between the tax payers and public authorities.”
• It is the duty of a citizen to pay tax.
• It is not a cost for a service.
• The assessment and realization of tax depends upon the constitutional authority.

Objectives of Tax

• To raise revenue for welfare activities and economic development
• To regulate the economy
• To reduce inequality in distribution of income
• To maintain the National Income and control inflation

Canons of Tax | Canons of Taxation

Characteristics of a good tax system

• It must be Equitable i.e. the burden of taxation should be minimum. It must be distributed between different sections of the society in a just and equitable manner and in such a way that the burden of tax lies more on the rich and less on the poor.
• It must be elastic i.e. Proper blend of direct and indirect taxes. By blending a variety of direct and indirect taxes together efforts must be made to reduce the scope for tax evasion to the minimum.
• The government must keep in mind the convenience of the tax payer while devising a tax system.
• Certain sources of income must be reserved for situations like war, floods, natural disasters etc.
• It must follow the objectives of maximum social advantage.
• It must include all the canons of tax.
• It must be productive.

Kinds of Tax | Types of Taxes

According to Bustle, “ Taxes which are levied on permanent and recurring occasions are direct taxes. Taxes which are charged on occasional or particular events are indirect taxes.”

According to Dalton, “A direct tax is really paid by the person on whom it is partially or wholly imposed, while an indirect tax is imposed on one, but paid partially or wholly by another owing to a consequential change in terms of some contract or bargain between them.”

Direct Tax – It is a tax, the burden of which is directly borne by the person on whom it is levied. Thus the impact and incidence of tax lies on the person on whom it is levied. E.g Income Tax, Corporate Tax, Tax on Capital gains.

Indirect Tax – In indirect tax, the burden of tax is partially or wholly borne by a person who does not directly pay the tax i.e. one person pays the tax and another bears the burden of tax. In such a case the impact and incidence of tax fall on more than one person. E.g. Sales Tax, Service Tax, VAT, Custom duties and Octroi, Excise duty

Progressive Taxation –  In Progressive Taxation an exemption limit is fixed by the government and all individuals falling below that limit are granted exemption from tax payment while the rate of tax increases in a progressive manner for those who lie above the exemption limit.

Proportional Taxation – In Proportional Taxation the income of all tax payers taxed at a uniform rate irrespective of their income level. The tax rate does not change with the change in income of a person.

Regressive Taxation – In Regressive Taxation, the rate of tax decreases with increase in tax payer’s income. It is the opposite of progressive taxation.

Digressive Taxation – It is a mixture of progressive and proportional tax. In this the tax rate is progressive up to a certain limit and then becomes proportional after that limit. Thus the tax rate increases with increase in a person’s income up to a certain limit, thereafter becomes constant.

Specific Tax – It is levied on the basis of number, size or weight of a commodity.

Ad-Valorem Tax – It is levied on the basis of price of commodity.

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It refers to the monetary expenditure which a firm has to incur in order to purchase or hire the factors of production. It is the expense of purchasing or hiring factor services for production and other business activities.

Classification of Cost / Types of Cost

There are various types of cost:

On the basis of Nature of Costs –

• Fixed Cost – It is the cost of fixed inputs used in production. These costs do not vary with the change in volume of production.
• Variable Cost – It is the cost of variable inputs used in production. These costs vary with the change in volume of production.
• Semi Variable Cost – It refers to costs which are partly fixed and partly variable. These types of cost do not directly affect the level of production but may vary with change in production facilities e.g. administrative cost, maintenance cost, depreciation cost etc.
• Total Cost – It refers to the total cost of production.

Total cost = Fixed cost + Variable Cost

• Marginal Cost – It refers to the cost of producing one extra unit of a product.

MC = TC_n – TC_n-1

TC_n = Total cost of producing n products, TC_n-1 = Total cost of producing n-1 products

On the basis of Expense –

• Material Cost – It refers to the cost of procurement and use of any raw material used for production.
• Labour Cost – It refers to the payments made to permanent and temporary workers for their services.
• Overhead cost – It refers to costs which are semi-variable and vary with the level of production like administrative expenses, cost of indirect material and labour, indirect expenses etc.

On the Basis of Control:

• Controllable cost – It refers to costs which can be influenced or controlled by the actions of the organization members.
• Uncontrollable cost – It refers to costs which cannot be controlled by the actions of the organizations members.

According to Functions or Operations of a Business:

• Preliminary Cost – costs incurred before the commencement of the actual business e.g. rent, interest, product trial, underwriting costs etc.
• Cost of Production – cost of material, labour, overheads etc.
• Cost of Marketing and Selling – cost of marketing, selling promotion, advertising, distribution etc.
• Cost Research and Development – cost of innovation, new or improved products, advance production facilities etc.

According to behaviour of cost:

• Direct Cost – It refers to costs which involve a direct expense and are easily traceable.
• Indirect Cost – It refers to costs which are indirect and not easily traceable.
• Explicit or Accounting Cost – It refers to the payments made in monetary terms by a firm, to the owners of factor services required for production.
• Implicit or Economic Cost – It refers to the estimated value of all the inputs owned and put to use for production by a firm.

On the basis of relevance in Decision Making:

• Opportunity Cost – It refers to the cost of the next best alternative action that is sacrificed in order to pursue the chosen action.
• Sunk Cost – It is the cost which is not altered by a change in current business activity. It can be understood as an irrevocable cost of the past business activity which has to be incurred now and is irrelevant to the current business scenario.
• Replacement Cost – It is the cost of replacing an asset, plant, machinery, equipment etc.
• Imputed cost – These are hypothetical costs which are considered just for the purpose of decision making and do not involve any actual cash outflow.
• Real Cost – It refers to the cost of all efforts and sacrifices made by the owners of factors of production in production of a commodity.
• Social Cost – It refers to the cost of hardships and sacrifices that a society has to bear due to operation of business activities.
• Conversion Cost – It refers to the cost involved in transforming raw materials into finished products. These types of cost do not include the actual cost of raw material. It includes the cost of direct and indirect labour, overheads and expenses.

Other Types of Cost:

• Historical Cost – It refers to the actual cost of acquiring an asset or producing a product or service.
• Normal Cost – It is a cost which normally incurred in achieving a certain level of output under certain conditions.
• Abnormal Cost – It is the cost which is not normally incurred at a given level of output under normal conditions. It is an irregular cost which would not exist in ideal conditions.
• Differential Cost – It is the change in cost due to change in level of production.
• Incremental Cost – It is the additional cost in relation to a change in the level or nature of business activity.

IC = TC2 – TC1

TC2 = Cost after change, TC1 = Cost before change

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