Fed: $900 stimulus payments challenge in High Court begins today
30 Mar 2009 3:27 AM
Families anticipating the proposed nine-hundred dollar tax bonus will have those payments challenged by a legal academic in the High Court over the next two days.
BRYAN PAPE will argue the payments .. worth billions of dollars .. exceed the federal government's taxation powers.
Mr PAPE says laws passed by parliament .. which enable the Australian Tax Office to pay bonuses of up to 900 to eligible taxpayers from next month .. do not make it an act of taxation .. but a gift.
But the commonwealth is vigorously defending the case .. arguing the law is valid and amply supported by the constitutional heads of power .. including the use of external powers to address the global financial crisis.
The full bench of the High Court has set aside two days of hearings to consider the challenge.
AAP RTV mb/rl/ss/psm/
