Commissioner of Taxation v Totalisator Administration Board (Q) [1990] HCA 48

High Court of Australia Brennan, Deane, Dawson, Gaudron and McHugh JJ. Commissioner of Taxation v Totalisator Administration Board (Q) [1990] HCA 48

ORDER Appeal allowed with costs. Set aside the order of the Full Court of the Supreme Court of Queensland and in lieu thereof order that the appeal to that Court be allowed with costs and that the order of McPherson J. be set aside and in lieu thereof order that the summons be dismissed with costs.

Cur. adv. vult.

The Court delivered the following written judgment:—

Nov. 22 Brennan, Deane, Dawson, Gaudron and McHugh JJ.

The question raised by this appeal is whether the Totalisator Administration Board of Queensland ("the T.A.B.") is liable for sales tax upon various items printed by it for use in connexion with the gambling business it conducts in or in association with betting shops throughout Queensland. The T.A.B. has a printery in which the items so used, but only those items, are printed.

Section 17(1) of the Sales Tax Assessment Act (No. 1) 1930 Cth ("the Act") levies sales tax on "the sale value of goods manufactured in Australia by a taxpayer and sold by him or treated by him as stock for sale by retail or applied to his own use". By s. 17(2) of the Act the reference in s. 17(1) to "goods manufactured in Australia by a taxpayer and applied to his own use" is to be read as a reference to "goods manufactured in Australia by a manufacturer in the course of carrying on a business and applied to his own use, whether for the purposes of that business or for any other purpose and whether or not the goods are of a class manufactured by the manufacturer for sale" (par. (a)) and as a reference as set out in s. 17(2)(b). Section 17(2)(b) has no bearing on the present matter. It is not in issue that the items were printed by the T.A.B. in the course of carrying on a business and were applied by it to its own use. The question is thus whether, in terms of s. 17(2)(a), the items are "goods manufactured in Australia by a manufacturer".