Fairness in the Indian Tax System
S. A. MOHAN
Abstract
Fairness is the sine qua non of any administrative or judicial process. Interviews of retired tax officials, tax practitioners, and retired tax adjudicators reveal that fairness is not guaranteed to taxpayers in India during tax assessment and tax adjudication at the first level of appeal. Instead, there appear to be challenges to substantive justice in both cases and to procedural justice in the context of tax assessments. Case law substantiates the existence of unfairness in tax assessments, with judges in some cases making critical remarks about the unfair behaviour of tax officials. But reforms to address such unfairness are long overdue.