rebates were always there - the only way they could implement a...

rebates were always there - the only way they could implement a federal tax on income was to rebate the different levels of state royalties

the question is not about whether there should or shouldn't be an RSPT - the problem is that it is 40% across the board on profits above the measly 10 year bond rate. in its current format it makes no allowance for the risk capital that has already been outlaid by mining companies (which makes the tax retrospective in a broad but realistic sense). and then they go and muddy the waters by making generous concessions to new mining ventures which may or may not be marginal at best. it just doesn't make sense

it would seem fair to levy some additional tax that introduced a level playing field across the various state jurisdictions - but 40%? and understand that some states are still going to be better off than others because of the differences in the various state royalties

if i was the WA premier (only Liberal state) i would be thinking very hard about imposing additional state royalties because the WA miners would still be taxed at the same level federally as every other state whilst increasing the WA state takeoff (via the royalty rebate) and decreasing the federal takeoff