On regulations & taxes : The Arthaśāstra discusses a mixed economy, where private enterprise & state enterprise frequently competed side by side, in agriculture, animal husbandry, forest produce, mining, manufacturing & trade. Royal statutes & officials regulated private economic activities, some economic activity was the monopoly of the state, & a superintendent oversaw that both private & state owned enterprises followed the same regulations. The private enterprises were taxed. Mines were state owned, but leased to private parties for operations. ― Protecting the consumer must be an important priority for the officials; there must be restraint on taxes imposed, fairness in the amounts & how tax increases should is implemented. The tax should be convenient to pay, easy to calculate, inexpensive to administer, equitable & non-distortive, & not inhibit growth. Since fair taxes build popular support for the king some manufacturers & artisans, such as those of textiles, were subject to a flat tax. Taxes should only be collected from ripened economic activity, & should not be collected from early, unripe stages of economic activity.
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