Saved existing tax doctrine fails where a materially altered municipal levy on pensioners begins after the constitutional cutoff.

A municipal profession tax on pensioners was valid only if it was actually and lawfully in force before the constitutional cutoff as an existing tax. The statutory scheme had changed materially when the earlier charging provision was replaced, the deeming fiction treating pensioners as employed persons was removed, and a fresh municipal resolution was required to activate the levy. Because the new resolution operated only from 1 April 1937 and the schedule was not adapted to pensioners until 1942, the impost was treated as a new levy, not a saved continuation. The tax on pensions was therefore invalid and could not be justified as a profession tax on profession, trade, calling or employment.

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Issues: Whether the profession tax levied by the municipal corporation on pensioners was a constitutionally and statutorily valid levy saved as an existing lawful tax.

Analysis: The levy could be sustained only if it was shown to have been lawfully levied immediately before the relevant constitutional cutoff so as to fall within the saving provision. The statutory scheme changed materially when the 1936 amendment substituted the earlier charging provision, removed the deeming fiction that treated pensioners as persons holding appointments, and required a fresh municipal resolution to bring the tax into force. The subsequent resolution took effect only from 1 April 1937, and the applicable schedule was not suitably adapted to pensioners until 1942. On that construction, the impost was not a mere continuation of an existing lawful levy but a new levy introduced after the relevant date. The character of the tax on pensions was also not altered into a tax on profession, trade, calling or employment merely because it was labelled profession tax.

Conclusion: The levy on pensioners was not saved as a pre-existing lawful tax and was invalid.

Final Conclusion: The appellant was entitled to prohibition against enforcement of the demand, and the challenge to the municipal levy succeeded.

Ratio Decidendi: A tax can be saved by the constitutional continuation clause only if it was actually being lawfully levied immediately before the relevant cutoff date; a materially altered levy, introduced by a fresh charging mechanism and not supported by the governing schedule, is a new levy and cannot be treated as a saved existing tax.

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