Ha v New South Wales[1] is a High Court of Australia case that dealt with section 90 of the Australian Constitution, which prohibits States from levying excise.

The plaintiffs argued that the licence fee imposed by the Act was an excise and hence invalid due to section 90 of the Constitution.

A slim majority of the Court (Brennan CJ, McHugh, Gummow and Kirby JJ) ruled in favour of the plaintiffs, adopting the broad view of an excise per Matthews v Chicory Marketing Board (Vic).

The Court viewed the scheme as purely about revenue raising without a discernible regulatory element, giving it the appearance of a tax.

Ha also featured a strong dissent, with the minority of the Court (Dawson, Toohey and Gaudron JJ) adopting the traditional narrow view of an excise.