Pushing the Frontiers of Law in Indirect Taxation: Caselaws at the Vanguard

Abstract

The modern Tax Laws are not like the Code of Hammurabi, the ancient Ruler of Babylon engraving his laws on clay and stone tablets. They are passed by the modern legislature and promulgated. Printed versions become available almost immediately or even downloaded on the Internet. Further, the tax laws do not exist merely to showcase the power of Governments and the Rulers to make exactions from the citizens. The tax law is part of the social contract that underpins any society and state. Such law in particular has to remain ever relevant to the changing needs of the time. The burden of tax Law is much heavier than the ordinary nontax law.