|
''South Australia v Commonwealth'' (1942) 65 CLR 373 ("the First Uniform Tax case") is a High Court of Australia case that established the Commonwealth government's ability to impose a scheme of uniform income tax across the country and displace the State. It was a major contributor to the rising vertical fiscal imbalance in the spending requirements and taxing abilities of the various levels of government and was thus a watershed moment in the development of federalism in Australia. ==Facts== In 1942, during the Second World War, the Commonwealth government needed extra revenue for the war effort. At the time, income taxes were levied at both the State and federal level. The Commonwealth requested the States to transfer their taxing powers for the duration of the war to allow one uniform national income tax system, with grants given back to the states to compensate for the lost revenue. Doubting that the powers would be returned, the states rejected the request. In response, the Commonwealth moved to occupy the field unilaterally. As s51(ii) only allows the Commonwealth to impose federal taxation for federal purposes, it could not cover the field of taxation with any law. Nevertheless, the Commonwealth introduced a uniform income tax through an intricate scheme of four pieces of legislation. * The ''Income Tax Act 1942'' raised income tax levels to the existing state levels, setting it at such a rate that made it politically impossible for states to impose their own income taxes. The amount raised was enough to cover the war effort and grants for the states * The ''States Grants Act 1942'' provided a grant for each state equal to what it would have raised on its own income tax, on the condition that it did not raise its own income tax * Section 221 of the ''Income Tax Assessment Act 1942'' required taxpayers to meet their Commonwealth tax liabilities before state tax liabilities * the ''Income Tax (Wartime Arrangements) Act 1942'' required that the states transfer to the Commonwealth all state staff, offices, furniture and records used to collect income tax The laws were challenged by the states of South Australia, Victoria, Queensland and Western Australia. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「South Australia v Commonwealth」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|