Gillard blames states for mining tax fiasco
Julia Gillard has sought to blame state governments for the failure of the mining tax to hit its revenue targets amid new calculations that show its net contribution to the budget bottom line is likely to be no more than $88 million in its first six months, according to The Australian.
However, the resources industry has responded curtly to the Prime Minister's suggestion that the relationship between the mining tax and state government royalties could be reworked, warning that she must honour her 2010 agreement with the major mining companies.
While the government has said the minerals resource rent tax raised $126m in the first six months, the net contribution to the budget will be almost $40m lower because the miners can use their mining tax payments to reduce their company tax.
Labor stews over fix for mining tax
The federal government is considering plugging the royalties hole in its mining tax but will leave any changes until close to, or after, the election to avoid triggering another damaging campaign by the mining industry, according to the Australian Financial Review.
A letter from Prime Minister Julia Gillard to independent MP Rob Oakeshott, who is demanding the tax be toughened, says the government shares his concerns “about the interaction of state royalties and the ÂÂminerals resource rent tax’’
In the letter, sent on Monday, Gillard notes the GST Distribution Review panel reported last year that allowing mining companies to deduct all present and future royalties they paid state governments from their MRRT liabilities was “neither ÂÂdesirable nor sustainable’’
Obeid windfall was 'chance'
Disgraced former NSW resources minister Ian Macdonald has told a corruption hearing it was mere "chance" that coal exploration licenses he approved in 2008 fell plumb on top of land owned by his close Labor Party ally Eddie Obeid, according to The Australian.
But Macdonald's long-awaited evidence to the Independent Commission Against Corruption yesterday directly contradicted statements he made to parliament in 2010.
