Madmarket,
The number of interest to shareholders is earnings after tax as that is what is available for divis and reinvestment.
All the profit is taxed at 30% company tax.
As well as that, profit over the 6% return mark will have an additional 40% tax!
BHP says that their total tax will move to 57% overall. Now that is a long way from the normal company tax of 305 and it means a lot less cash for shareholders.
