The Duke of Westminster's Graven Idol on Extending Property Authorities into Tax and Back Again

Abstract

The author of this article argues that whilst a desire for uniformity and certainty in taxation law is both desirable and necessary, it should not and cannot be achieved simply by extrapolating general property and trust concepts and authorities into taxation law. Conversely taxation authorities cannot mechanically be cited as supporting property and trust principles. The result of simple extrapolation not only inhibits effective judicial response to tax avoidance by by-passing important policy considerations but also creates uncertainty by obscuring the real reason for the decision.