As the state government looks at trimming more community programs and increasing the cost of more essential services and the federal government barrels along on its holy crusade to free the miners from any semblance of tax be it for carbon pollution or flogging off our minerals to whom ever will buy them, take some time to comprehend just how much of a leaner the resource sector is. In WA the state government subsidises the resource sector to the tune of 1.4 billion dollars a year. To put that into context the state government returns over 25% of what it receives from royalties back to the mining sector in ports, roads and infrastructure. The federal government gives them fuel excise rebates and countless means to not ever have to pay their fair share of tax. In Queensland the Newman government hands 60% of its royalties back to miners in infrastructure and other benefits. In an era where conservative governments are targeting the age of entitlement, what possible excuse can there be for these handouts and concessions made to a handful of very large, very rich and primarily overseas companies. The miners would have us believe that they are the backbone of the economy, the ones doing the heavy lifting. In reality they are amongst the biggest rent seekers and welfare recipients in the nation. Even local success stories like FMG pay little or no company tax at all yet receive millions of dollars in concessions, rebates and infrastructure construction paid for by us. As late as 2012 FMG had not paid one cent in corporate tax in Australia and still had $700 million in legitimate write offs it could use to avoid paying any tax for a good while yet. Dont get me wrong, the resource sector is important and we need it. But so is manufacturing and farming, and community services and teaching, etc, etc. to give a singe non renewable industry such enormous handouts while letting our manufacturing base including the automotive industry disintegrate beggars belief. Furthermore to brutalise and punish the poor, the old and the struggling in the budget so that Gina and Twiggy can maintain their subsidised rent free, tax free pillaging of this nations finite resources is morally repugnant. If the miners want to prove their worth to the nation, paying their fair share of tax to cover the subsidies the rest of us contribute to them would be a good start.
Posted on: Thu, 26 Jun 2014 05:03:30 +0000