ACT v Queanbeyan City Council

[2010] FCAFC 124

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Interrogate

Catchwords

1. Constitutional Law (Cth)
2. › Excise duties
3. › Section 90 of the Constitution
4. › Tax on water distribution network calculated by reference to length of network
5. › Whether a duty of excise
6. › Whether tax on transportation infrastructure is a tax on goods transported
7. › Constitution, s 90
1. Constitutional Law (Cth)
2. › Excise duties
3. › Section 90 of the Constitution
4. › Licence fee for abstraction of water from public natural resource
5. › Whether fee for privilege or tax
6. › Whether charge must bear discernible relationship to value of resource
7. › Whether revenue-raising purpose converts fee into tax
8. › Water Resources Act 2007 (ACT), ss 7, 28, 107
9. › Constitution, s 90
1. Constitutional Law (Cth)
2. › Taxation
3. › Distinction between tax and fee for privilege
4. › Charge for acquisition of natural resource under stewardship of State or Territory
5. › Whether monopoly pricing relevant to discernible relationship test
6. › Harper v Minister for Sea Fisheries (1989) 168 CLR 314
7. › Air Caledonie International v The Commonwealth (1988) 165 CLR 462

Quick Take

A licence fee for taking a public natural resource remains a fee for a privilege (not a tax) even where the fee is set to reflect the government's assessment of the resource's economic value, provided there is some discernible relationship between the fee and the value of the resource.