State and Government in Ancient India c24.17

c24.17

The taxation was usually determined by the local customs and traditions. In the later times, however, when the *samiti* disappeared from the scene, governments would often impose high and arbitrary taxes. We often find tugs of war between the central governments, which wanted to levy new and oppressive taxes and the village Panchāyats, which would refuse to collect them. Very often, however, power prevailed and justce went to the wall; we find villagers migrating *en masse* to escape unbearable taxation. There can be no doubt that in later times, the interest of the average man in the sphere of taxation was not adequately protected when a greedy tyrant was on the throne. This however happened primarily because there was no *samiti* or popular assembly in later times. The importance of a strong and vigilant popular Assembly as a champion of popular rights and interests cannot be overemphasised.