Double taxation on hides and skins is impermissible where the same goods are taxed again as dressed hides, with additional tax tied to final assessment.

Tax on raw hides and skins cannot again be levied on the same goods when they are later sold as dressed hides, because the controlling concern is avoidance of double taxation and the assessment must be redone to reflect the later stage correctly. The Court also noted that additional tax cannot stand independently of the final assessment; if the underlying assessment is reopened or reconsidered, the additional levy must be examined afresh on that basis. The matter was therefore remitted for fresh consideration in accordance with law.

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Issues: (i) whether the turnover relating to raw hides and skins kept under tanning and thereafter sold as dressed hides could again be brought to tax so as to avoid double taxation; (ii) whether the levy of additional tax could stand independently of the final assessment.

Issue (i): whether the turnover relating to raw hides and skins kept under tanning and thereafter sold as dressed hides could again be brought to tax so as to avoid double taxation.

Analysis: The assessment records showed that the same goods were subjected to tax in one year as raw hides and skins and again in the subsequent year as dressed hides. The Tribunal found that while the last purchase of raw hides could be taxed, the same goods could not be taxed again in the form of dressed hides without giving effect to the corresponding assessment in the subsequent year. The Court agreed that the difficulty arose from the absence of a corresponding reassessment for the later year and that the proper course was to re-do the assessment to prevent the same goods being taxed twice. The provisions invoked were not treated as inapplicable on the facts merely because export was alleged; the controlling concern was avoidance of double taxation on the same goods.

Conclusion: The assessment was not to be sustained as it stood, and the matter was to be re-done in accordance with law to avoid double taxation.

Issue (ii): whether the levy of additional tax could stand independently of the final assessment.

Analysis: The liability to additional tax was held to depend upon the final assessment made by the assessing authority. Since the foundation for the additional levy was the ultimate assessment position, the issue could not be concluded without reconsideration of the assessment on remand. The appropriate course was therefore to set aside the Tribunal's order on this aspect and remit the matter for fresh decision after hearing the assessee.

Conclusion: The issue of additional tax was remanded for reconsideration in accordance with law.

Final Conclusion: The revisions substantially failed, but the question of additional tax was sent back for fresh adjudication, so the matter was only partly concluded in the assessee's favour.

Ratio Decidendi: Where the same goods have already suffered tax in one stage of the transaction chain, they cannot again be subjected to tax in another form without a corresponding reassessment that prevents double taxation; liabilities dependent on the final assessment must be reconsidered if that assessment is reopened.

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