 A tax on capital gains was imposed for the first time in 1946, although the concept of ‘capital gains’ has been amended many times by later amendments.In 1956, Nicholas Kaldor was appointed to investigate the Indian tax system in the light of the revenue requirement of the second five-year plan (1956–1961).He submitted an exhaustive report for a coordinated tax system and the result was the enactment of several taxation Acts, viz., the wealth-tax Act 1957, the Expenditure-tax Act, 1957 and the Gift-tax Act, 1958.