FEDERAL LAND TAX VALID.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXIX, Issue 89, 3 June 1911, Page 5

FEDERAL LAND TAX VALID.

The hearing of the action Osborne v. Hex, in which the I'crleral Hign Court recently gave judgment tor t.. 0 Crown, began at -Melbourne on May 2;jrd, wiiou a special case under order g'J, mlo 1, of the Rules or Court, volatile' - to tiio Federal land tax, was sul.mitTcd to a J all . Reach or the liiga Court. 1 iic plaintiff contostec. the validity of the Acts passed at the last session of the Commonwealdi Parliament. , . , . ire statement of churn set out that the plain till" sued (1) for a declaration that the Acts ot too Common wealtu Parliament, tlie Hand Tax 19i0, and the Land Assessment ■\ct’ 1910, were not within the powers ’of the Commonwealth Parliament; and (2) for a declaration that sections 10, Id, and 12, ol the Land Tax Assessment Act dul not hxwltilly impose tr charge any tax upon the hind of the i plaintiff, or upon the plaintiff in respect of his ownership of such land; and (3) for an injunction to restrain the defendant .commissioner from -requiring the plaintilf to furnish rc-turns, and from assessing him toi any tax. ’i ne plaintiff is tno resident owhcr of 1 md in New South Wales of the v.duc which the Act purported to tax. He was also trustee for certain absentee persons, which the Act purported to tax. He was the holder of shares in companies, whose joint interest in land was an amount in excess of the taxable value, and was a policyholder in insurance comp:\nies, whose l*.uul wus in excess ot the toxal>lo vulnc. I ‘lO pi ninth! also contended that on November ICtn, 1910, wncn the bawl Tax came into force, the Land ,Tax Assessment Act, al.ich purported to he incorpm ated therewith, and to he road witli ■ it, was not in existence; and that this made the Act invalid or alternatively a “law imposing taxation,” within the meaning ol section <55 of the .C onstitution, and, contrary to that section, dealing with more than one subject of taxation. It was also cou-fc.-nd.'d that the Aits, were not lor the. purposes ol taxation; but were :■) prevent resident parsons from holding and owning large areas ot land, and to prevent absentee pmsons from owning and holding lands within the Commonwealth. 'I hey were, therefore, Ads. controlling lira ioinost m affairs, ol the States, rec n-ycd by the constitution to Lie States, and they sought also to limit ih.o owners ol land to areas not •xcceding Cod!Ill in value, and with respect to the acquisition of lands, were not in pursuance of any powers possessed l.v the Common wealth, it was also con*feuded that the Arts disci imina ted between jslates and parts of Stales, and time they soug.u to impose a fax upon the property of iho Slates. 'the defence was, a general rebuilai of the ,d at ament of claim, and ah lrrnalively it was contended that if <nv of the sections of the Acts niv iitvalid they nic aeycrahie frouithe red of the’ Ads. red iln ir invalidity would not affect t!m rest of.the Acts.