Harmonious construction of taxing statute limits dealer definition to business-connected sales, excluding isolated casual sales from tax.

The amended definition of "dealer" under the Bihar Sales Tax Act was read harmoniously with the statute as a whole, so the substitution of "sells or supplies any goods" did not automatically tax every isolated transaction. The surrounding charging, procedural and turnover provisions continued to use the concept of business, indicating that the wider wording was confined to sales connected with business, including the added categories of contract business and Government sales. In a taxing statute, any new burden must be expressed clearly, and ambiguity is resolved in favour of the subject. A casual sale unconnected with business was therefore outside the amended definition and not liable to sales tax.

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Issues: Whether the amended definition of "dealer" under the Bihar Sales Tax Act, 1947, as substituted by the Bihar Finance Act, 1950, includes a person making only a casual sale unconnected with his business so as to render such sale taxable.

Analysis: The amended definition replaced the words "business of selling or supplying goods" with "sells or supplies any goods", but the surrounding provisions of the Act continued to refer to business, including the charging and procedural provisions, the prescribed forms, the rules, and the concept of turnover. Reading the amendment in isolation would create inconsistency within the statute and would enlarge the tax burden beyond what the original scheme contemplated. In a taxing statute, a new burden must be imposed in clear terms, and where two constructions are possible the one favourable to the subject is to be preferred. On a harmonious reading of the original Act and the amendment, the wider language was confined to sales connected with a business, including the newly added categories of contract business and Government sales, rather than every isolated or casual sale.

Conclusion: A person who makes only a casual sale not connected with his business is not a "dealer" within the amended definition, and such sale is not liable to sales tax.

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