The Political Institutions and Theories of the Hindus: A Study in Comparative Politics c11.t19.7

c11.t19.7

It is doubtful if the business or license tax paid by the Tamil gold-smith should not be scheduled as a charge on property. But "unripe fruit" in the Kartigai month, though a levy in kind, must be regarded as such. Stocks, bonds and mortgages that are so prominent in modern economic life and necessarily occupy an important place in the taxation of property are not naturally to be looked for in Hindu finances of the eleventh, twelfth, and thirteenth centuries. But it is interesting to note that — the "sonship" was assessed among certain social classes, e. g. the "right hand" and "left hand" orders. The public income from the sonship dues was identical with that accruing from inheritance tax, or estate or "death duty", i. e. the charge made by modern governments on the transfer of property from the dead to the living.