State and Government in Ancient India c20.81

c20.81

It is difficult to state whether the percentage of the land tax, mentioned above, refers to gross or net produce. The Jātaka literature shows how the government agents were present on the fields when the yield of the crops was garnered; so the share they claimed must have been of the gross produce.¹ There is, however, no definite evidence to show that the government did not make an allowance for the cost of agriculture, when it was charging a tax as high as 25% or 33%. The *Śukranīti*, which permits 33% taxation, definitely states that the cultivator should get as his net income twice the amount which he spends by way of the land-tax and the cost of production.² This would show that the share claimed by the state would be about 16% of the gross produce and 25% of the net income.