Analysing the Judicial Definition of Income in Light of Folk Justice
Fairness is integral to the effective operation of a tax system. However, Australia’s judicial interpretation of income has been criticised for departing from the measure of accrued income and, thus, lacking fairness. This article revisits the judicial meaning of “income”, assuming that judges re...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Journal Article |
| Published: |
Thomson Reuters
2022
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| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/87067 |
| _version_ | 1848764895025168384 |
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| author | Allen, Christina |
| author_facet | Allen, Christina |
| author_sort | Allen, Christina |
| building | Curtin Institutional Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | Fairness is integral to the effective operation of a tax system. However,
Australia’s judicial interpretation of income has been criticised for departing
from the measure of accrued income and, thus, lacking fairness. This
article revisits the judicial meaning of “income”, assuming that judges reflect
a social justice mentality. It examines cases dealing with bonus shares, which
can be viewed as having applied the concept of “flows”, as well as cases
that deal with welfare payments, income from hobbies, windfalls, gifts and
business income. The article finds that the court has confined the definition
of income to what people expect to receive and depend on to live; however,
business income is examined to identify actual profit. It concludes that accrued
income need not be the only way for income tax to appeal to fairness. |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-14T11:26:37Z |
| format | Journal Article |
| id | curtin-20.500.11937-87067 |
| institution | Curtin University Malaysia |
| institution_category | Local University |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-14T11:26:37Z |
| publishDate | 2022 |
| publisher | Thomson Reuters |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | curtin-20.500.11937-870672022-01-10T01:41:35Z Analysing the Judicial Definition of Income in Light of Folk Justice Allen, Christina Fairness is integral to the effective operation of a tax system. However, Australia’s judicial interpretation of income has been criticised for departing from the measure of accrued income and, thus, lacking fairness. This article revisits the judicial meaning of “income”, assuming that judges reflect a social justice mentality. It examines cases dealing with bonus shares, which can be viewed as having applied the concept of “flows”, as well as cases that deal with welfare payments, income from hobbies, windfalls, gifts and business income. The article finds that the court has confined the definition of income to what people expect to receive and depend on to live; however, business income is examined to identify actual profit. It concludes that accrued income need not be the only way for income tax to appeal to fairness. 2022 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/87067 Thomson Reuters restricted |
| spellingShingle | Allen, Christina Analysing the Judicial Definition of Income in Light of Folk Justice |
| title | Analysing the Judicial Definition of Income in Light of Folk Justice |
| title_full | Analysing the Judicial Definition of Income in Light of Folk Justice |
| title_fullStr | Analysing the Judicial Definition of Income in Light of Folk Justice |
| title_full_unstemmed | Analysing the Judicial Definition of Income in Light of Folk Justice |
| title_short | Analysing the Judicial Definition of Income in Light of Folk Justice |
| title_sort | analysing the judicial definition of income in light of folk justice |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/87067 |