While customs duties are easy to determine, the status of excise, as summarised in Ha v New South Wales, is that it consists of "taxes on the production, manufacture, sale or distribution of goods, whether of foreign or domestic origin.
On the imposition of uniform duties of customs all laws of the several States imposing duties of customs or of excise, or offering bounties on the production or export of goods, shall cease to have effect, but any grant of or agreement for any such bounty lawfully made by or under the authority of the Government of any State shall be taken to be good if made before the thirtieth day of June, One thousand eight hundred and ninety eight, and not otherwise.
[6] Since the High Court's ruling in Parton v Milk Board,[7] subsequently endorsed unanimously in Bolton v Madsen,[8] excise duties in the Australian context are generally agreed to apply in several situations: In Hematite Petroleum Pty Ltd v Victoria, it was further held: ...the tax must be directly related to the goods and the criterion of liability must be a step in the production, manufacture, sale or distribution of the goods.
[11] In Gosford Meats Pty Ltd v New South Wales, Gibbs CJ summarised the position by stating that "an impost cannot be an excise unless it is a tax upon, or in respect of, a step in the production, manufacture, sale or distribution of goods.
[21] The minority justices were scathing in their dissent, with Steward J arguing the decision could "render the states and territories the constitutionally fiscal minions of the commonwealth".