Page 2184 - Week 06 - Tuesday, 21 June 2011
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. to approve guidelines in relation to lease variation charges (proposed section 276E);
. to prescribe matters in relation to the application of proposed section 277A; and
. to prescribe the amount by which the commissioner for revenue must increase a lease variation charge for a chargeable variation of a nominal rent lease (proposed section 279).
That language is creeping into 279. I will read that again:
… to prescribe the amount by which the commissioner for revenue must increase a lease variation charge for a chargeable variation of a nominal rent lease …
The committee draws these matters to the attention of the Assembly and recommends that the minister explain why it is desirable to delegate legislated powers in these ways. I look forward to the explanation from the minister. I hope she can do it.
It goes on on page 7, where it refers to “the minister and the power to fix the rate of a tax”. Other members have spoken on this. It says:
By proposed section 276D of the Act, the Treasurer would be empowered to determine the rate of a “charge”:
276D Lease variation charges—LVC determination
(1) The Treasurer may determine a lease variation charge for a prescribed chargeable variation.
...
(2) A determination must be made in accordance with any guidelines approved under section 276E.
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(4) A determination is a disallowable instrument.
It goes on to say
It is also the Treasurer who approves the guidelines referred to in proposed subsection 276D(2), and it is to be noted that any guidelines are disallowable.
These are big powers. As Mrs Dunne pointed out, there may be no constitutional objection to a law of the Assembly, whether expressly or by implication, and whether directly or indirectly, conferring a taxing power on the Treasurer. But these are the roles and rights of this place—to confer those rights. What we need is the clarity that is not given by the legislation. What we need, as the scrutiny of bills report says, is to get the minister to stand up and actually tell us what it does mean.
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