Jump to full article: Reuters, 2002-08-22
Intro: An Australian ex-smoker had her attempt to force British American Tobacco and Philip Morris to pay back A$230 million (US$124 million) in invalid taxes thrown out of court on Thursday.
Myrian Cauvin who suffered emphysema and has had a lung transplant wanted the giant tobacco firms to release tax money, she says was paid by smokers buying cigarettes, to establish a fund for smokers trying to quit.
A New South Wales Supreme Court Judge William Windeyer dismissed the case on Thursday saying it was "doomed to fail", according to his written judgement.
The case followed a High Court ruling in August 1997 that excise tax on cigarettes between July 1, 1997, and August 5, 1997, was invalid, forcing the introduction of retrospective laws to cover the tax.
But the laws did not cover a five-week period of tax collection after August 5, when an estimated A$230 million was collected.
Judge Windeyer said Cauvin's claim could not succeed because "payment for a cigarette does not discharge an obligation to pay a tax", he also said it was impossible to say what part of the price of a cigarette represented tax.
Jump to full article » |