Flemmich v Federal Commissioner of Land Tax [1916] HCA 17
High Court of Australia
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21C.L.R.] OF AUSTRALIA. 167
lucidity, and which may be stated thus: If property originally MC: or A.
settled be such that had the settlor died immediately before the si
date of the settlement it would have been liable to pay probate Commis-
duty, then so much of such property and of the proceeds thereof rae
arising through realization and reinvestment as is comprised in the
v.
settlement at the death of the settlor remains liable to taxation CURRIE.
under sec. 112 of the Administration and Probate Act 1890. I gavan putty 4
therefore think that the judgment appealed from is right, and the
appeal should be dismissed.
Ricu J. I agree.
Appeal dismissed with costs.
Solicitor for the appellant, Z. J. D. Guinness, Crown Solicitor
for Victoria. ~
Solicitors for the respondents, Davies & Campbell.
Bali:
(HIGH COURT OF AUSTRALIA.|
FLEMMICH . 3 . f : APPELLANT ;
AND
THE FEDERAL COMMISSIONER OF LAND
} RESPONDENT.
TAX Z
Land Tax—Assessment—Joint owner also owning land in severalty subject to lease— H.C, or A.
Assessment as secondary taxpayer—Deduction to avoid double taxation—Method 1916,
of ascertaining amount of deduction—Value of whole of land of taxpayer—
Deduction of value of lease—Land Tar Assessment Act 1910-1914 (No. 22 of \Sypwey,
1910—No. 29 of 1914), secs. 28, 38, 43, 43a. March 28.
Where a joint owner of land is also an owner in severalty of other land Griffith OJ.,
and is separately assessed under sec. 38 (3) of the Land Tac Assessment Act Gavat Baty and
1910-1914 in respect of his whole interests, the land held by him in severalty ™&47-
is to be assessed according to the ordinary rules for assessing land so held.
H.C. of A.
1916.
Feperan
Commis-
SIONER OF
Lanp Tax.
HIGH COURT (1916.
If, therefore, the land held in severalty is subject to a lease granted before
the commencement of the Act the taxpayer is entitled to have the unim-
proved value of the lease of the land held in severalty deducted from the
unimproved value of that land for the purpose of apportioning the amount —
of his assessment between his interest in the joint estate and the land held in
severalty.
Cask STATED.
On an appeal by Nea Vivian Flemmich from an assessment of
her for land tax for the years ending 30th June 1912, 1913, 1914 and
1915, Rich J. stated the following case for the opinion of the High
Court :—
1. Henry Charles White, who died on 24th February 1905, by his
will dated 5th October 1904 devised certain land in the Common-
wealth to trustees upon trust for his three daughters for life with
remainders over. The said testator's said daughters, of whom the
appellant is one, are all living.
2. Under powers given them by the said will the trustees on
30th August 1906 conveyed portion of the said land to the appellant
in fee simple, and the appellant on 30th August 1906 leased the same
to the said trustees for 21 years from Ist August 1906. x
3. The trustees have been assessed and have paid land tax for
the year 1911-1912 as primary taxpayers in respect of the land of
which the appellant and her sisters are joint owners under the said
will.
4. The appellant has been assessed for the said year 1911-1912
upon a taxable value of £59,040 made up as follows :—
5, The appellant's one-third interest for life under the said will
was assessed at £49,544. Her interest in land held in severalty
was assessed at £14,496—being £19,796 the value of the said land less
£5,300 which represents the interest under sec. 28 of the Act of the
lessees under the said lease.
6. The sum of £49,544 and £14,496 is £64,040, from which the
deduction of £5,000 under sec. 33 of the Act was made—leaving
£59,040, on which the tax is £730 2s. 5d.
7. From this amount of £730 2s. 5d. the appellant is entitled
under sec. 38 of the Act,as a secondary taxpayer, to such deduction
as is necessary to prevent double taxation, and questions have arisen
21C.L.R.] OF AUSTRALIA.
as to the proper mode of ascertaining the amount of such deduction
under secs. 43 and 43 of the Act.
8. The amount of the tax in respect of the land payable by the
appellant as secondary taxpayer is less than that payable by the
trustees as primary taxpayers.
9, The respondent claims that the deduction is £521 13s. 6d.,
leaving £208 8s. 11d. as the amount of tax which appellant is liable
to pay.
10. In arriving at this amount of £521 13s. 6d. the respondent,
in applying the provisions of sec. 43a of the Act, took the " unim-
proved value of the land or interest referred to" at £49,544, and the
"unimproved value of all the land owned by" the appellant at
£69,340, made up of £49,544 plus £19,796, and did not deduct £5,300
the value of the lessees' interest under sec. 28 of the Act.
11. The appellant contends that, in arriving at "the unimproved
value of all the land owned by" the appellant, according to the
proper construction of sec. 43a of the Act the said £5,300 should
have been deducted, and that therefore the said unimproved value
was £64,040, made up of £49,544 plus £14,496, and so the deduction
under sec. 43 should be £564 17s., leaving £165 5s. 5d. as the amount
of tax which the appellant was liable to pay.
12. The same question arises as to the proper method of making
the deductions under sec. 38 of the Act in respect of the tax payable
by the appellant for the years 1912-1913, 1913-1914 and 1914-1915.
The question for the consideration of the Court is whether
the deduction to prevent double taxation in the said four years
ought to be ascertained in the manner contended for by the appellant
or in that contended for by the respondent, or in some other and
what manner.
Loxton K.C. (with him Milner Stephen), for the appellant. Under
sec. 28 the appellant is entitled to deduct from the unimproved value
of the land which she owns severally the unimproved value of the
lease to which it is subject. What is left after making that deduc-
tion is, for the purposes of taxation, the unimproved value of the
land which the appellant owns severally, and when added to the
H.C. or A.
1916.
——
FiemMick
v.
Freprrat
Comis-
SIONER OF
Lanp Tax.
H. C. or A.
1916,
HIGH COURT [1916.
unimproved value of the land of which she is a joint owner con-
stitutes the unimproved value of all the land owned by her.
[Counsel was stopped].
Pike, for the respondent. The words "all the land owned by
<. him" in sec. 434 have the same meaning as in secs. 11 and 15.
The allowance of a deduction in respect of a lease of the land does
not lessen the unimproved value of the land. Sec. 43a gives a
mathematical formula for ascertaining the amount of the deduction
to be made in order to avoid double taxation.
Grirrirn C.J. The appellant is a joint owner of land. Her
share or interest is one-third, which is valued at £49,544. She
is also the owner in severalty of land of the total value of £19,796
which is subject to a lease granted by her before the commencement
of the Land Tax Assessment Act 1910. By virtue of sec. 28 of the
Land Tax Assessment Act 1910-1912 she is entitled to have the
value of that lease deducted from the total value of the land leased.
The value of the lease has been assessed at £5,300. The value of
the land which she holds in severalty—i.e., her value of the reversion
—is therefore for the purposes of taxation £14,496 only. The trustees
of the land of which she is a joint owner have been assessed on the
basis of the land being held by a single person, and the result is that
her one-third share of the total tax paid in respect of that land is
very much greater than the tax she would have been liable to pay
if she were taxed as the owner in severalty of land of one-third of
the total value. Besides being liable to pay her share of the tax
upon the jointly owned land she is liable under sec. 38 to be separ-
ately assessed as a secondary taxpayer on the value of her individual
interest in the joint estate, namely, £49,544, together with the value
of the land which she holds in severalty, namely, £14,496, making
altogether the sum of £64,040. The tax payable upon that value is
£730 2s. 5d., which sum is apportionable between the value of her
share of the land of which she is a joint owner and the value of
the land of which she is the owner in severalty. If that sum is
divided proportionately, the proportion attributable to the land
of which she is a joint owner is £564 17s., and that attributable to
E
21C.L.R.] OF AUSTRALIA.
the land of which she is the owner in severalty is £165 5s. 5d. The
trustees have already paid for her a sum of money much larger than
the sum attributable to the land of which she is a joint owner.
Therefore the whole of that sum of £564 17s. must under sec. 43
be deducted, and what is left, namely, £165 5s. 5d. is the amount
of the tax which is attributable to the land which she holds in
severalty, which is valued at £14,496. That is the contention of
the appellant, and that is what sec. 43 of the Act says in plain terms.
Tt provides that the amount of the deduction in such a case as this
is "the amount of tax payable in respect of the land or interest
by the secondary taxpayer." The amount to be deducted is the
whole of that amount, because more than the whole of it has already
been paid by the trustees. The object, as the Act says, is to avoid
double taxation in respect of the same land.
The Commissioner contends that sec. 434 has some application to
the case. It provides that " Where in this Act reference is made to
the tax payable by a person in respect of any land or interest, the
reference is to so much of the whole tax payable by him as bears
to the whole tax payable by him the proportion which the unim-
proved value of the land or interest referred to bears to the unim-
proved value of all the land owned by him." Applying that section
to the present case, it provides for estimating the proportion of the
total tax which the appellant is entitled to deduct, and the proportion
is to be that which the value of her share in the joint estate bears
to the value of the whole of the land of which she is owner. Mr.
Pike contends that those are not the true elements of the proportion.
He says that the proportion should be that which the value of her
share in the joint estate bears to the total value of the land held in
severalty without deducting the value of the lease. There is no
ground for such a contention. The taxable value of the land held
in severalty is assessed once for all. The effect of the deduction
would not be to prevent double taxation. The only effect would
be that both the appellant and the leaseholder would be taxed on
the value of the leasehold estate.
Iam of opinion that the appellant's contention is right, and that
the question submitted should be answered accordingly. ;
H.C. or A.
1916.
Fremmicn
v.
FeperaL
Commus-
SIONER OF
Lanp Tax.
Griffith C.J.
172 HIGH COURT [1916.
H.C.or A. Barron, J. I agree.
1916.
"w
Fiewicn
v.
Feperat
Goma Ricu J. I agree.
SIONER OF
Lanp Tax.
Gavan Durry J. I agree.
Question answered accordingly. Costs to be
costs of appeal.
Solicitors for the appellant, Stephen, Jaques & Stephen.
Solicitor for the respondent, Gordon H. Castle, Crown Solicitor
for the Commonwealth.
B.L.
(HIGH COURT OF AUSTRALIA.]
JOSKE y : : ' : . 5 ' APPELLANT ;
InFrorManT,
AND
THE DENTAL CASH ORDER ah R
PROPRIETARY LIMITED. . ee
DEFENDANTS,
ON APPEAL FROM THE SUPREME COURT OF
VICTORIA.
H.C. ov A, Dentist—Prohibition of use of words—* Dental company"—Combination with
1916, other words—* Dental Cash Order Company"—Meaning of words added—
a EBvidence—Medical Act 1915 (Vict.) (No. 2695), sec. 72.
Meznourye,
Sec. 72 of the Medical Act 1915 (Vict.) provides that "No person who is
Heb 23, 24," not registered as a dantist shall) nar shall Rn oeeiaecea i Hee tiecta tent
_ tion consisting wholly of registered dentists), . . . take or use or have
er ataaoedel attached to or exhibited at any place (either alone or in combination with
Gavan Durty" any other word or words or letters) the words 'dental company' or 'dental
institute' or 'dental hospital' or 'dental college' or 'college or school of
a oe ee ae
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