TDS, explaining the rise and rise of a safe-bet tax collection method

The I-T department's cost of collection has been reduced as a share of the total direct taxes collected

The Income Tax Act of 1922 is said to have been the first to introduce the concept of tax deducted at source (TDS).

“Any person responsible for paying any income chargeable under the head, ‘salaries’ shall, at the time of payment, deduct income-tax,” said the Act which applied to “the whole of British India, including British Baluchistan and the Sonathal Parganas”, as well as the princely states.

An increasing share of tax collections are through the TDS route in India now. At 41 per cent of the total gross direct tax receipts, the share