Air Caledonie v Commonwealth
Encyclopedia
Air Caledonie v Commonwealth (1988) 165 CLR
462 is a High Court of Australia
case that provides guidance as to the constitutional definition of a tax.
The court also provided some guidance as to the characteristics of a tax:
The court also made a distinction between citizens and non-citizens. An Australian citizen cannot be stopped from entering Australia, so although they paid the clearance fee, no service was being rendered to them. Hence the fee paid could not have been a fee for a service.
Commonwealth Law Reports
The Commonwealth Law Reports are the authorised reports of decisions of the High Court of Australia. The CLR are published by the Lawbook Company, a division of Thomson Reuters...
462 is a High Court of Australia
High Court of Australia
The High Court of Australia is the supreme court in the Australian court hierarchy and the final court of appeal in Australia. It has both original and appellate jurisdiction, has the power of judicial review over laws passed by the Parliament of Australia and the parliaments of the States, and...
case that provides guidance as to the constitutional definition of a tax.
Facts
The Commonwealth passed an amendment modifying the Migration Act 1958. The amendment imposed a fee on all persons entering Australia for immigration clearance. The implementation of such a scheme meant that airline operators would have to make payments to the Commonwealth government.Decision
The High Court unanimously held that the fee for migration clearance was a tax. If section 55 of the Australian Constitution (which requires that legislation imposing tax deals only with imposing tax) is read literally, the effect of this decision would have invalidated the rest of the Migration Act. The Court was thus careful to invalidate only the Amending Act. The migration clearance fee was a tax because it has all the positive attributes of a tax. It was:- compulsory;
- exacted by a public authority for public purposes enforceable by law;
- not a fee for services.
The court also provided some guidance as to the characteristics of a tax:
- a fee could be considered a tax even if it was collected by a private entity not properly described as public
- the liability must be imposed in relation to some ascertainable criteria
The court also made a distinction between citizens and non-citizens. An Australian citizen cannot be stopped from entering Australia, so although they paid the clearance fee, no service was being rendered to them. Hence the fee paid could not have been a fee for a service.
See also
- Constitutional basis of taxation in AustraliaConstitutional basis of taxation in AustraliaThe constitutional basis of taxation in Australia is based on a group of powers in the Australian Constitution: sections 51, section 90, section 53, section 55, and section 96...
- Australian constitutional lawAustralian constitutional lawAustralian constitutional law is the area of the law of Australia relating to the interpretation and application of the Constitution of Australia. Several major doctrines of Australian constitutional law have developed....