ABSTRACT
Up to this point in our Report we have concentrated upon the structure of the system of direct taxes, but we have said little or nothing about the pattern of tax rates within any given tax structure. The general level of tax rates must depend upon the general level of public expenditure; and in so far as this is the case we regard the matter as outside our terms of reference. But given any tax structure and the average tax rates which must be levied to meet the budgetary needs, there is a wide scope for choice of rate structures. It is not our intention in this Report to examine in detail the relative merits of different types of rate structure, i.e. of the case for and against different degrees and patterns of progressivity in the tax burden. However, there are some basic considerations which are of great importance in themselves and which also have implications for the choice of tax structure itself.
