25th Mar 2014, 1:51 PM – Senate Minerals Resource Rent Tax Repeal and Other Measures Bill 2013 - Second Reading - Share mining boom benefits

The majority voted against an amendment introduced by Greens Senator Christine Milne.

The amendment would have added the following to the end of the motion That this bill be now read a second time:

"but the Senate calls on the Government to recognise that the benefits of the mining boom should be enjoyed by all Australian society by:(Read more about mining in Australia here.)

(a) applying a 40% tax rate to all minerals,

(b) rebating only those royalties that were in place at July 2011, and

(c) allowing depreciation on the book value of the amounts actually spent on mining infrastructure only."

Background to the bill

The bill was first introduced into the House by Treasurer Joe Hockey to repeal the minerals resource rent tax ('MRRT'), which the Coalition called the “mining tax”.(You can read more about the MRRT here. ) The tax began 1 July 2012 and applies to profits earned from the extraction of mineral resources such as coal and iron ore. Its abolition was an election promise of the Coalition during the 2013 election campaign.(You can read the Coalition's policy here.)

The bill also repeals the schoolkids bonus, the income support bonus and the low income superannuation contribution.

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