Formulating general principles in a difficult area: Justice Phang and revenue law

• Main Author: OOI, Vincent
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University 2022
• Subjects: Tax Law; Taxation; Singapore Tax; Singapore Law; Asian Studies
• Online Access: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/sol_research/4188; https://search.library.smu.edu.sg/discovery/fulldisplay?docid=alma99630988502601&context=L&vid=65SMU_INST:SMU_NUI&lang=en&search_scope=Everything&adaptor=Local%20Search%20Engine&tab=Everything&query=any,contains,Pursuing%20Justice%20and%20Justice%20Alone%20%E2%80%93%20The%20Heart%20and%20Humanity%20of%20Andrew%20Phang%E2%80%99s%20Jurisprudence&offset=0
• Institution: Singapore Management University

Justice Andrew Phang has the distinction of having heard the greatest number of revenue law cases of any judge in Singapore, past or present. His judgments continue to be definitive statements of the legal position in multiple areas of revenue law and also provide a rich source of the history of revenue law in Singapore.This chapter focuses on the capital-revenue distinction, addressed by Justice Phang in ABD v CIT, the second-most cited domestic income tax case in Singapore. In discussing this important concept in revenue law, the chapter explained the historical reasons for the distinction and the rationale for retaining it in modern tax systems. It then considered the composite and integrated approach laid down by Justice Phang to determine whether an expenditure is capital or revenue in nature.