Income-tax is based on the concept of progressive taxation. A person earning higher income has to pay more tax. I have following logics, requesting the government to tax the "wealthy" farmers who are minting huge amounts from agricultural income: -

1. Horizontal equity:  Horizontal equity needs to be maintained whenever there is taxation. If a person who is working day-in and day-out in field is earning Rs. 50 lacs per year, a businessman is equally working hard across the time and earning the same amount. The effort goes the same and the risk is the same. A person doing job does not know when he may be shown "pink" slip. Persons earning equal income shall be placed in equal position by taxing the agricultural income exceeding Rs. 10 lacs.

2. Fraudulent wealth creation: We all might have come across the news-clippings or hearsay, where people have laundered their black money, and in some cases even money out of corruption/ illicit sources in the name of "agricultural income". The CBDT itself had issued a notification in March 2016 holding that people have used "Agricultural income" for capital formation at length and therefore, where a person has shown agricultural income exceeding Rs. 1 crores, such cases shall be taken for detailed examination and investigation.

3. Independence and Now: - At the time of independence, there was a great need to promote the agricultural sector the agriculture contributed to major portion of GDP and more than 80% of the population was dependent on agriculture. But with the development of economy, the shift of GDP from primary sector to territory sector. The machenised ways of farming has made farmers, with acres of lands, no less than industrialists.  

4. Taxing Rich Farmers is not against any human factor: By taxing a farmer who is earning more than Rs. 10 lacs in a year, would cover only 2-3% of the farmers.  Taxing agricultural income above Rs. 10 lacs would not be against any cannons of equity and fairness. It would ofcourse not result in poor farmers dying, starving. It is only the rich farmers, who have wealth, not less than any big "seth", who will be liable for such a tax.

Such a concept has been introduced in the Income-tax this year by taxing dividend income in hands of shareholder, whose dividend income exceeds Rs. 10 lacs. So on the same principles and amounts, taxing the farmer who earns more than this would not be awful.

5. Burden on others: If these farmers are not taxed, the burden of economic development and its cost lays on the others. One major source of revenue of government is taxes, and therefore, if these "rich" farmers don't contribute, others will have to pay more taxes. This would be unfair, unjust and violates the basic principle of equality and equal protection of law.

I therefore urge both Central and State Governments, to leave political agenda and tax the agricultural income in hands of persons above Rs. 10 lacs. Since there is a Constitutional mandate on taxing agricultural income on the Central Government, the Central Government may force State Governments to levy such a tax, or bring an equalisation levy on farmers or a tax similar to such a tax.

Any government, whosoever it may be, shall appreciate that ofcourse farmers may be a big vote bank, but people other than farmers also have got voting rights. And by this levy, in any case, only 2-3% of the farmers, i.e. "wealthy farmers" would be affected.