Parton v Milk Board (Vic)

Infobox Court Case
name=Parton v Milk Board (Vic)
court=High Court of Australia


date_decided=21 December 1949
full_name=Parton v Milk Board (Vic)
citations= [http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/cases/cth/high_ct/80clr229.html (1949) 80 CLR 229]
judges= Latham CJ, Rich, Dixon, McTiernan and Williams JJ
prior_actions=none
subsequent_actions=none
opinions=(3:2) The broad approach to excise in section 90 is to be taken (per Rich, Dixon & Williams JJ; Latham CJ & McTiernan J dissenting)

"Parton v Milk Board (Vic)" (1949) 80 CLR 229 is a High Court of Australia case that dealt with the meaning of excise in relation to section 90 of the Australian Constitution.

In this case, the tax was calculated as a fixed amount per gallon of milk, and imposed on retailers, instead of at the production phase; this was held to be invalid as imposing a duty of excise. This heralded in the broad approach to section 92 - where a "tax upon a commodity at any point in the course of distribution before it reaches the consumer produces the same effect as a tax upon its manufacture or production" (per Dixon J). Rich and Williams JJ agreed with Dixon J, stating that a tax at a later stage in the handling of a good is in effect a tax on the production or manufacture of the good.

Latham CJ dissented, using "Peterswald v Bartley", and McTiernan J felt that it should be employed in a narrower sense, to make it fit within what he perceived to be the object of the section, which was to promote a "uniform fiscal policy for the Commonwealth".

See also

* Section 90 of the Australian Constitution
* Australian constitutional law

References

* Winterton, G. et al. "Australian federal constitutional law: commentary and materials", 1999. LBC Information Services, Sydney.

External links

* [http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/cases/cth/high_ct/80clr229.html Full text of the decision]