LEASE WITH PURCHASING CLAUSE

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 297, 4 September 1918, Page 8

LEASE WITH PURCHASING CLAUSE

WHO B LIABLE FOR LAND TAX? : In tl(e Supreme Court yesterday His Hououi Mr. Justice Hosking delivered reserved judgment in the case of.David Cowpoj Yule v. tho Commissioner of Taxes,'heard on July l(i. Tho appeal in thiij case was raised by a case stated under/ Section $5 of the Land and Income ,I'ax Act, 1916, upon the question whether the appellant \yas liable to be assesied for land tax in respect of a piece of land which was leased by him to oiß AV. H. Sadler for, a term of seven yeari expjriug on November 1.4, 1917, the'lease containing a compulsory purchasing 'clause. The appellant contended that by vir!tno/of Section 15-of the.Finance Act, '1917, the lessee was the owner of tho land for the purposes of. land-tax, and tha't the appellant'was not assessable for the tax; in other words,- that the provisions of that section exonerated him from the assessment made. On the other hand; the Commissioner of Taxes contended that the lessee was id possession of.vth'e land as lessee, and not as purehaseiYand that Section lo therefore did not .apply so as to exnn'erate the appellant,' 'In additionto this lie contended that the existing legisla r tion was consistent only with -a, concurrent liability on tho part or both the appellant nnd the purchaser, and that the. injustice of a position that Otherwise might entail double taxation was met by Section 21. ; His Honour, after dealing fully with tho Ip"al points raised and the cases quoted, decided that the appeal must be allowed, and the amount appealed against cancelled, and the appellant was allowed £10 10s. costs . . At the hearing Mr. A. W. Blair _ appealedfor the appellant, and Sir John Salmondi K.Cv (Solicitor-General), for the Commissioner;of Taxes.