This article examines the evolution of tax systems in the post-independence period, with special reference to the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises and their predecessor, the Small-Scale Industries, until the introduction of the Goods and Services Tax in 2017. The study was a systematic review of legislative provisions, plan documents, and scholarly literature to determine the impacts of direct and indirect tax legislation on small producers over the last seven decades. Understanding the benefits enjoyed by small firms at each phase of taxation, along with the burden imposed on small firms by the tax systems. The article concludes that Indian taxation policies for small industries are shaped by protective measures for labour-intensive small enterprises, and that these policies struggle to bring them into the formal economy. GST was able to solve some of the old problems, but the increased compliance burden of GST was a hurdle for the MSMEs