Antinuclear

BHP, Rio Xstrata – no pain from Australia’s Mineral resources Rent Tax (and uranium is exempt)

Resources tax: what you may not know … SMH, Ian Verrender, March 20, 2012 Despite all the hullabaloo, all the hand-wringing and the wailing from various sections of the mining industry, the passage of the Mineral Resources Rent Tax overnight confirms Australia as one of the world’s most benign destinations for miners.

That’s right. When it comes to taxing resource companies, Australia is a soft touch, a virtual tax haven. Not that you will read that anywhere else. More than likely you will continue to be beaten about the head with dire predictions of
impending doom and threats of mass defections from our big mining houses……

almost every country with a resource base, rich and poor, has begun tightening the screws after witnessing in the past decade one of the greatest wealth transfers in history – away from the citizens who owned the minerals and towards the companies exploiting those resources.

It is a global trend that will make it increasingly tougher for the big resource houses to maintain their earnings growth, regardless of
whether commodity prices continue to surge as they have done since the
turn of the century…..
The new mineral resource tax does not apply to all minerals. It
applies only to iron ore and coal. Gold, copper, nickel and uranium
miners all are off the hook. And at 30 per cent, it sits well below
the 40 per cent petroleum resources rent tax introduced by the Hawke
government in 1986.
It is worth noting the petroleum tax has not deterred a single cent of
foreign investment, either in exploration or production, in the
quarter of a century since it was introduced, so there is no reason to
suggest the new mineral tax will either.
Given the diluted minerals tax is much lighter than proposed new tax
regimes in Indonesia and across Africa, it is likely to be a big
attraction…..Australia wins hands down as a place to dig for
minerals…….
The big two, BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto, will be eyeing off potential takeover targets as they nervously watch the merger of Xstrata and Glencore and the bidding war that is likely to erupt for Anglo American and perhaps even Fortescue.
http://www.smh.com.au/business/resources-tax-what-you–may-not-know–20120319-1vfvg.html

March 20, 2012 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | AUSTRALIA - NATIONAL, politics