Taxation without Principles: A Historical Analysis of the Kenyan Taxation System

Abstract

Tax law is said to be barely connected with the universe and with universal law as we understand it. However, tax law is founded not only on principles but also on practicality. There is no element of perpetuity about tax law, only the constant clash of the immediate and semi permanent. A State cannot run a democracy well without taxation and a taxation system cannot be run well without democracy. As Oliver Wendell Holmes has said on one occasion, “Taxes are what we pay for civilised society.” The importance of tax law must be and is tempered as a result with the capabilities of a state and its constitutional and legislative provisions.