It is considered that the withdrawal of rulings IT166, IT2374 and IT2461 should have awaited the result of the taxpayer's special leave application to the High Court of Australia. There was no pressing need (such as a need to protect the revenue) to withdraw those rulings. The draft ruling does not replace those rulings and is uncertain on many crucial points because of the conflict between what was said by the Federal Court in Steele's case and existing authority, particularly High Court authority, on the deductibility of interest.
maintenance