Tax Policy Reforms in India: Budgetary Impact, Tax Regimes, and Tax Planning Strategies with Insights from the Indian Knowledge System (IKS)

Tax policy changes have a prominent role in determining the economy of a certain country, which affects the level of revenue collection, distribution of income and in the long-term economic growth. Union Budgets that have followed in India have brought substantial changes to make the process of taxation easier, more compliant, and efficient in promoting economic activities. This research paper will look at key tax policy reforms in India and more specifically their budgetary effects, tax regimes development and new tax planning practices among individuals and businesses. The paper also incorporates the lessons of the Indian Knowledge System (IKS) especially the ancient Indian fiscal thought to bring out the ethical and welfare-based foundations of taxation in India. The study assesses the effectiveness of the current tax reforms using the secondary data, scenario-based analysis and the simulations-based comparisons. The results indicate that, even though modern taxation reforms are focused on efficiency and digitization, the ancient tenets of IKS, including equity, moderation and public welfare are quite useful in promoting sustainable fiscal governance.