This is my take on "mining" taxes. As an Australian I dont see it as a bad thing that we should receive a royalty for our countries resources. If companies decide that they are not getting a fair deal they are free to go and extract resources from other parts of the world. (Im sure all of the rare earth miners will have no problems setting up in China to continue to extract and make profits, and the labor costs would be so cheap!). Or companies could just concentrate on Africa and the Middle East. Great places to do business so off you go then. Now that fallacy has been dealt with I will say that if Gold is subject to a mining tax then it may lead to less production and exploration. Would not a decline in production mean that existing supplies, and by extension my stack, become more valuable? I dont want to debate politics so can we leave the Canberra mob out of this?
The Constitution of the Commonwealth of Australia does not provide ownership of minerals to the Commonwealth, rather it rests with the states. Therefore the question of appropriate royalties is for each state to answer - not the federal government. The federal government is using the taxation power to interfere with the rights of the states.
Argyle Diamond mine used to pay the W.A. State Govt it's royalties in diamonds...can't imagine why gold miner can't pay in-kind! P.S. ..mind you, karats aint karats, by the time the State collector had arrived, all the high value pink diamonds had gone to Debeers.
I bet the WA Government wishes that the Federal Government would FRO! Leave WA gold to the WA'ians. (I hope FRO means what I think it does...)
