The Federal Court has upheld superannuation contributions surcharge tax assessments under the Superannuation Contributions Tax (Assessment and Collection) Act 1997 (SCTAC Act) in respect of the Parliamentary Contributory Superannuation Fund for members of the Victorian Parliament under the Parliamentary Salaries and Superannuation Act 1968 (Vic).
The taxpayer claimed that the superannuation contributions surcharge (tax) assessments under the surcharge legislation were beyond the legislative competence of the Commonwealth because it curtailed or interfered with the capacity of the State of Victoria to function as a government. Essentially, the taxpayer sought to rely on the application of the judgments of the High Court in Austin v The Commonwealth (2003) 215 CLR 185; 51 ATR 654 and Clarke v FCT (2009) 240 CLR 272; 72 ATR 868, where certain surcharge legislation was ruled constitutionally invalid.
In dismissing the taxpayer’s appeal, the Court considered that the High Court’s judgments in Austin and Clarke are not authority for the proposition that the SCTAC Act infringed the principle in Melbourne Corporation v The Commonwealth (1947) 74 CLR 31. The Court noted that the Victorian Parliamentary Contributory Superannuation Fund could not be said to be a manifestation of the State of Victoria. In the present case, to the extent that it relates to members of the fund in relation to whose notional contributions the taxpayer was the holder, the Court considered that it was not within the same class as Austin and Clarke.
(Parliamentary Trustee of the Parliamentary Contributory Superannuation Fund v FCT [2012] FCA 740, Federal Court, Jessup J, 16 July 2012. )
[LTN 136, 17/7]