This week saw the passing of key legislation in Australia that will earn billions of extra tax dollars for the government from iron ore and coal miners
The Minerals Resource Rent Tax was passed in the upper house of the Australian parliament on March 18th and is set to become law on July 1st. The Tax is part of Prime Minister Julia Gillard’s attempt to return the budget to surplus.
Companies to be affected include worldwide giants such as Rio Tinto Group and BHP Billiton Ltd.
According to Bloomberg, Gillard recently said in an interview with Channel Nine television: “We’ve got a spectacular resources boom.” She added: “It makes sense to take some money from the turbo-charged section of the economy and share it more broadly around the nation and that is what the mining tax does.”
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