The debate between tax avoidance and tax evasion is as old as taxation itself.' This debate is extremely complicated with different people using different terms to describe different things. 2 While some scholars insist on authority of canons of statutory interpretation3 to assert that tax avoidance is legally permissible and it is tax evasion which is illegal 4 , others insist that there is no difference between the tax avoidance and tax evasion since both involve taxpayer behavior which is factually similar. 5 The global complexity of this debate can also be gauged by running a simple Westlaw search and going through the facts of some of the western judicial precedents on this point.6 Similarly, in India as well, the kind of transactions that the courts have to understand are getting increasingly complex.7 Under pressure to respond adequately to this growing challenge, the legislatures in turn have responded with extremely complex taxation.8 Any attempt to find a quick fix solution to this problem is bound to result in confusion and failure - may it be on the part of the legislator, the judge, the lawyer or, most importantly, the scholar.