Article 246 ( Seventh Schedule) of the Indian Constitution contains the legislative powers (including taxation) of the Union Government and the State Governments. It contains the following 3 lists covering the various subjects :
List I—Central List. It contains the areas in respect of which only the parliament i.e., Central Government can make laws (including taxation laws.)
List II—State List. It contains the areas in respect of which only the State Legislature can make laws (including taxation laws).
List III—Concurrent List. It contains the areas in respect of which both the Parliament and the State Legislature can make laws concurrently. It is important to note that this list does not specify any law relating to taxation. In other words, there is no head of taxation under the concurrent list and hence Union and the State have no concurrent power of taxation.
SEVENTH SCHEDULE
(Article 246)
List 1—UnionlCentral List (14 Heads of Taxation)
1. Taxes on income other than agricultural income: [Entry 82] [Income Tax Act 1961]
2. Duties of customs including export duties; [Entry 83] [Customs Act 1962]
3. Duties of excise on tobacco and other goods manufactured or produced in India except (i) alcoholic liquor for human consumption, and (ii) opium, Indian hemp and other narcotic drugs and narcotics, but including medicinal and toilet preparations containing alcohol or any substance included in (ii); [Entry 841 [Central Excise Act 1944]
4. Corporation Tax; [Entry 851
5. Taxes on capital value of assets, exclusive of agricultural land, of individuals and companies, taxes on capital of companies; [Entry 86]
6. Estate duty in respect of property other than agricultural land; [Entry 87]
7. Duties in respect of succession to property other than agricultural land; [Entry 88]
8. Terminal taxes on goods or passengers, carried by railway, sea or air; taxes on railway fares and freight; [Entry 89]
9. Taxes other than stamp duties on transactions in stock exchanges and futures markets; [Entry 901
10. Rate of stamp duty in respect of bills of exchange, cheques, promissory notes, bills of landing, letter of credit, policies of insurance, transfer of shares, debentures, proxies and receipts. [Entry 911
11. Taxes on the sale or purchase of newspapers and on advertisements published therein; [Entry 92]
12. Taxes on the sale or purchase of goods other than newspapers, where such sale or purchase takes place in the course of inter-State trade or commerce; [Entry 92 A] [Central Sales Tax Act 1957]
13. Taxes on the consignment of goods in the course of inter-State trade or commerce. [Entry 92B]
14. All residuary types of taxes not listed in any of the three lists of Seventh Schedule of Indian Constitution; [Entry 92 C] for e.g. Service Tax.
Note : The Department of Revenue under the Government of India’s Finance Ministry is solely responsible for levy and collection of above union taxes.