What is Professional Tax mean

Many salaried employees might be very well aware of the term ‘professional tax’ as it would have been mentioned in the payslips/Form 16 issued to them. But all of them may or may not understand what it is and why is it appearing in their payslips/Form 16 as a deduction from their salary income. Hence, this article is an attempt to provide a better picture of what is ‘Professional tax’ and why is it deducted and is it only salaried class who are bearing it.