new australia mining tax

Deos this affect MAK operations ? Im not familiatr with mining law in Australia. TIA

New Australia mining tax seen burying miners' profits
filed under: Government, Regulatory
by Paula Wallace created Jan 26, 2010 10:45 AM

Australian miners will face billions of dollars in new taxes that threaten to slash productivity and put at risk billions of dollars in new investment, sector officials and analysts were reported as saying.
New Australia mining tax seen burying miners' profits


Treasury chief Ken Henry has recommended scrapping state royalty taxes on mining projects and replacing them with a uniform national resource rent tax, injecting billions of extra dollars into government coffers, the Sydney Morning Herald newspaper reported.
"This will have a detrimental impact on the ability of the mining sector to attract investment and expand at a time when it is most needed," Darren Brown, national manager of policy and government relations for the Association of Mining and Exploration Companies Inc., reportedly said.
The so-called "rent" tax could be introduced as early as May if approved by Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, placing levies of up to 40 per cent on iron-ore, coal, copper zinc and other minerals mined in Australia each year.
Three of the world's biggest mining houses, BHP Billiton, Rio Tinto and Xstrata have drawn up plans to dig hundreds of millions more tons of iron-ore and coal this decade, based on the current state-only royalty system and would face some of the heftiest tax bills.
Australia's mining sector has fought the reforms ever since a gold tax was established in 1991 but complain Rudd's administration has kept them in dark over a review undertaken late last year by the secretary of the treasury, Ken Henry.
The Minerals Council of Australia has said the tax is equivalent to killing the goose that lays the golden egg at a time when commodities markets are recovering from the global financial crisis.
"The real driver is the growing perception that the industry is considered a ready milch cow," the council's chief executive Mitchell Hooke, reportedly said to Reuters news service.
Another possibility is that the state royalties could remain intact with a federal tax placed on top, Hooke said.
Details of the Henry tax review have not been disclosed publicly, though Rudd has promised to make them available before the next national budget in May.
Australia's tax system netted A$278-billion last year, with company and resource rent tax contributing A$56-billion or 21 per cent. Australia's 30 per cent corporate tax rate is the eighth highest in the OECD.