By the time of Federation in Australia in 1901, all of Australia’s six States (then British Colonies) had introduced income taxes in some form. This chapter traces the subsequent development of the centralisation of Australia’s income taxation system from 1915, when the central...

In the midst of World War II, the Australian federal Labor government effectively appropriated the states’ income tax systems, with the understanding these would be returned after the war. A state challenge on constitutional grounds in the courts was unsuccessful. The appropriation suited...

The introduction of a broad-based indirect tax at the State level is impractical for constitutional reasons. Attention has instead turned to the possibility of alternative new taxes at the State level, such as a State income tax

In the 1970s, the Australian income tax system was subject to a wave of avoidance and evasion unprecedented in this country and probably unmatched anywhere else in the world. The episode cost revenue billions of dollars, did untold damage to the social fabric of our country and permanently...

This chapter seeks to provide an overview of the structure and policy of Australian income taxation for tax advisors and tax students. It sets out the criteria by which the provisions and practice of the Australian income tax system, described in the following chapters, can be evaluated. It will...

While income splitting for tax purposes is not generally allowed in the Canadian income tax system, the tax law does allow persons making support payments to transfer liability for tax on the payments to the recipient of the payments. The Canadian rule was copied from U.S. precedent even though...

In contrast to the VAT regime, income taxation in the European Union (EU) remains almost fully non-harmonised. A number of factors suggest the possibility that harmonisation of direct taxes in the EU may not be as far-fetched as many believe. The first is the compulsion of mounting economic and...

The statutory test to determine when an individual is a resident of Australia has changed little since it was adopted in 1930, when Australia replaced its territorial-based individual income tax system with a residence-based system. In 2019 the government received comprehensive recommendations...