First taxable point rule bars tax on later sale of empty bottles bought from an unregistered dealer.

Tax on empty bottles was held to arise only at the first taxable point under the relevant scheme. A subsequent sale in the chain could not be taxed merely because the bottles had been purchased from an unregistered dealer, since the earlier taxable point had already been exhausted. The issue was treated as governed by the Court's prior ruling on the same question, and the sale of empty bottles at the second or subsequent point was therefore not liable to tax on that basis.

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Issues: Whether tax could be levied on the sale of empty bottles at a second or subsequent point merely because the bottles had been purchased from an unregistered dealer.

Analysis: The assessment was made under section 10 and the dispute concerned the tax treatment of empty bottles sold along with country liquor. The reasoning accepted that liability under the scheme in question attached only at the first taxable point. Once that point had been exhausted, a later sale in the chain of successive sales could not be subjected to tax merely because the immediate purchase was from an unregistered dealer. The matter was treated as covered by the earlier decision of the Court on the same issue.

Conclusion: The sale of empty bottles was not liable to tax at the second or subsequent point merely because the assessee had purchased them from an unregistered dealer.

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