[miningmx.com] — Australia will collect an estimated A$60bn less in a new mining tax over the next decade than originally predicted because of changes in the tax before last year’s election, the Sydney Morning Herald said on Wednesday.
Treasury figures show the originally proposed tax would have raised A$99bn between 2012/13 and 2020/21 but the revised tax will earn A$38.5bn during the period, the paper quoted documents obtained from the government.
Former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd proposed the tax last year but the government watered down the tax after Julia Gillard took over from Rudd and agreed on a complex deal with mining firms.
A spokesperson for Treasurer Wayne Swan told the paper the government had always been upfront that the redesigned tax would generate significantly less revenue.
The original tax was heavily opposed by mining giants such as BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto , and the mining industry spent millions of dollars on a public relations campaign which in part led to Rudd’s fall.
Australia plans to return its budget to surplus in 2012/13 and Swan has repeatedly said that a shortfall in the mining tax revenue would not threaten the budget targets as spending would be cut in line with the revenue loss.
