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Commonwealth act
This Act has been repealed and is no longer in force. It is retained for historical reference.
What this law changes mechanically
The Act imposes a tax on wages paid by employers. The tax base is "wages" and the tax rate is set in the Act as "Two pounds ten shillings per centum" (section 3). The tax applies to wages paid or payable for any period of time occurring after 30 June 1941 (section 3). The employer is legally liable to pay the tax (section 4).
The Act incorporates the separate Pay-roll Tax Assessment Act 1941 and requires that the Assessment Act be read as one with this Act (section 2). That means assessment, collection, compliance rules, and enforcement procedures are handled by the Assessment Act rather than in this short instrument.
Stated purpose and the mechanical effects
Who pays, who decides, and what must change in behaviour
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Direct links to the current provisions in Pay-roll Tax Act 1941.
Zoe has indexed the source text for search and analysis. Use the official register for the original document and download formats.
View on official registerSourced from the Federal Register of Legislation (legislation.gov.au), CC BY 4.0.
Costs, incentives, trade-offs and implementation points (source-grounded)
Direct cost-bearer: The statutory payer is the employer (s4). That is the explicit legal incidence; economic incidence (who ultimately bears the cost) can shift in practice through wages, prices or employment decisions — the Act sets the legal mechanism (s3–s4) but does not prescribe how costs must be borne in contracts.
Revenue mechanism and rate: The tax is a fixed statutory rate stated in old currency terms ("Two pounds ten shillings per centum") applied to wages (s3). The Act does not convert or restate that rate in percentage terms within its text.
Administrative delegation and compliance burden: The Act deliberately keeps administrative details out of the primary text and incorporates the Pay-roll Tax Assessment Act 1941 (s2). That means obligations such as how and when to lodge returns, record-keeping standards, penalties, and remedies are set in the Assessment Act rather than here; employers must follow both Acts.
Discretion and implementation risk: Because the Assessment Act is incorporated, the practical scope of enforcement, timing, exemptions, and collection methods depend on that secondary instrument (s2). The primary Act is short and leaves implementation discretion to the assessment regime.
Trade-offs and opportunity costs: Applying a statutory tax to wages reduces the net resources available to employers for alternative uses (wages, hiring, investment). The Act does not itself create exemptions, thresholds, or reliefs; any such details must appear in the Assessment Act (s3; s2).
Concrete limits on scope in this text: The Act specifies only (1) the tax base (wages), (2) the rate (as stated), (3) the legal payer (employer) and (4) the effective period threshold (periods after 30 June 1941) (s3–s4). It does not address collection mechanics, definitions of "wages," or exemptions — those are for the incorporated Assessment Act (s2).
Key citations