Brambles Holdings Ltd v Commissioner of Taxation (Cth) [1977] HCA 54

High Court of Australia Barwick C.J. Gibbs, Mason, Jacobs and Murphy JJ. Brambles Holdings Ltd v Commissioner of Taxation (Cth) [1977] HCA 54

ORDER Appeal allowed with costs. Decision of the Taxation Board of Review No. 1 set aside and in lieu thereof order that the objection be allowed. Matter remitted to the Commissioner to reassess in accordance with the reasons for judgment of this Court.

Cur. adv. vult.

The following written judgments were delivered:—

Nov. 2 Barwick C.J.

My brother Jacobs, in the reasons for judgment which he has prepared in this appeal and which he has afforded me the opportunity to read and consider, has set out the relevant facts and circumstances and the statutory provisions with which the Court is presently concerned. I agree with my brother's conclusion that the appeal be allowed: and generally with the reasons he gives for arriving at it. For myself, I would wish only to add a brief observation.

In the administration of taxation laws it is, in my opinion, fundamental that the citizen is entitled to take advantage of the provisions of the statute, even if the result is not something contemplated by the draftsman. If that result is not acceptable to the Parliament, no doubt Parliament will amend the statute, an exercise which occurs with frequency and seemingly without difficulty. Provisions such as s. 16T of the Pay-roll Tax Assessment Act 1941-1969 Cth and s. 260 of the Income Tax Assessment Act 1936 Cth as amended ought not to be construed as denying such a right to the citizen, even where he deliberately chooses the form of a transaction into which he contemplates entering so as to attract the benefit of the statute, the transaction of course not being a sham or pretence. Whilst these two sections may not be in identical terms or operate in an identical fashion, they should be treated alike in this respect.