In addition to some facts on Queensland royalties I posted previously ,the following is a brief summary of WA royalties collected in 08-09. Of course, iron makes up the lions share of these figures.
08-09 Total Royalties collected by WA Gov: $2,792,786,210 WA Population 2,236,900
Royalties per capita P/A WA: $1249 approx
The royalty rates on Iron ore are in 3 categories: 5% 5.625% & 7.5%
average 6.042%
Now lets apply the average royalty to a ton of iron ore FOB: @$140 x .06042 = $8.43/ton royalty
Current cost FOB = $40 approx so Miners profit after Royalty = $91.51/ton (not bad eh!)
No wonder three of our wealthiest individuals in Australia are iron ore barons/ess namely Mr Forrest, Mr Palmer & Ms Rheinhart
It is worth while noting that only the residents of WA benefit directly from WA's royalties & not the rest of us.
It is also worth noting that BHP & RIO must have concessions on these rates because Premier Bartlett said 3 months ago that if the BHP-Rio merger proceeded in the Pilbara that the combined entity would then have to pay full royalty rates.
It is also worth noting that even though Queensland haS LITTLE OR NO IRON ORE, ITS ROYALTY RATE IS 2.7%!
The average Australian has no problem with the notion of national uniform royalties rates shared among us all so that like the Rheinharts, Forrests & Palmers of Australia , that we all have a fair go.
The government of the day of any political persuasion is our friend and represents us and it is not our enemy as it is proported to be by the lunatick fringe "Right". And personally I'm not great a masochist to put up my hand to pay more tax when the extra burdon can be readily carried by multinational miners.
