1
Short title
1 Short title
This Act may be cited as the Commonwealth Borrowing Levy Act 1987.
//
© 2026 Zoe. All rights reserved.
Zoe is a legal information platform. Always consult the Federal Register of Legislation for authoritative text.
Commonwealth act
This Act has been repealed and is no longer in force. It is retained for historical reference.
This Act imposes a levy (tax) on money borrowed by certain Commonwealth government bodies from sources other than the Commonwealth itself.
Who it affects:
What it covers:
Key details:
This is essentially a mechanism to raise revenue from, or impose a cost on, external debt raised by public sector entities.
Want the full deep dive?
Zoe can write the in-depth analysis on top of the summary above: how it works, who it affects and what each part actually does.
Direct links to the current provisions in Commonwealth Borrowing Levy Act 1987.
This Act may be cited as the Commonwealth Borrowing Levy Act 1987.
This Act shall come into operation on the day on which it receives the Royal Assent.
(1) In this Act:
body means:
(a) a body referred to in the Schedule; and
(b) a body declared by another Act to be a prescribed body for the purposes of this Act; and
(c) a body corporate (other than a body referred to in the Schedule) that is, under the Corporations Act 2001, a subsidiary of a body referred to in paragraph (a) or (b).
(2) Expressions have the same meaning in this Act as in the Commonwealth Borrowing Levy Collection Act 1987.
This Act applies to borrowings of money, otherwise than from the Commonwealth, undertaken on or after 1 July 1987 by a body, including, without limiting the generality of the foregoing, such a borrowing made wholly or partly in a currency other than Australian currency.
A levy is imposed on all borrowings to which this Act applies, other than such of those borrowings, or such parts of those borrowings, as are exempted from the levy by the regulations.
The rate of the levy is such annual rate as is prescribed, being an annual rate not exceeding 0.5% of the amount in respect of which the levy is payable.
The levy is payable by the body which undertakes the borrowing.
The Governor‑General may make regulations, not inconsistent with this Act, prescribing matters required or permitted by this Act to be prescribed.
Sourced from the Federal Register of Legislation (legislation.gov.au), CC BY 4.0.
This Act may be cited as the Commonwealth Borrowing Levy Act 1987.
This Act shall come into operation on the day on which it receives the Royal Assent.
(1) In this Act:
body means:
(a) a body referred to in the Schedule; and
(b) a body declared by another Act to be a prescribed body for the purposes of this Act; and
(c) a body corporate (other than a body referred to in the Schedule) that is, under the Corporations Act 2001, a subsidiary of a body referred to in paragraph (a) or (b).
(2) Expressions have the same meaning in this Act as in the Commonwealth Borrowing Levy Collection Act 1987.
This Act applies to borrowings of money, otherwise than from the Commonwealth, undertaken on or after 1 July 1987 by a body, including, without limiting the generality of the foregoing, such a borrowing made wholly or partly in a currency other than Australian currency.
A levy is imposed on all borrowings to which this Act applies, other than such of those borrowings, or such parts of those borrowings, as are exempted from the levy by the regulations.
The rate of the levy is such annual rate as is prescribed, being an annual rate not exceeding 0.5% of the amount in respect of which the levy is payable.
The levy is payable by the body which undertakes the borrowing.
The Governor‑General may make regulations, not inconsistent with this Act, prescribing matters required or permitted by this Act to be prescribed.