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House of Representatives                                Ch 12                                                 p 440

Bills imposing fees amounting to taxation

Section 53 of the Constitution, which prevents the Senate from amending bills imposing taxation, makes the proviso that a bill shall not be taken to impose taxation by reason only of its containing provisions for the payment of fees for licences or services. However, impositions described as fees or charges may in fact amount to taxation and there have been occasions when the Senate’s treatment of such bills has been questioned. ¹ In these cases the Senate did not agree with the bills’ classification by Parliamentary Counsel as bills imposing taxation, and dealt with them as ‘amendment bills’. The view taken by the Senate was that where there was reasonable doubt whether a bill should be classified as a bill imposing taxation it was proper to lean towards a ruling which preserved the Senate’s amendment power. ²

In each of these instances the Senate returned the bills concerned to the House ‘without amendment’ and no dispute between the Houses arose. However, the relative constitutional positions of the Houses might require consideration should the Senate in fact amend such a bill.

For details of bills involved see 3rd edition, p. 426.

Odgers , 6th edn, p. 591.