Kevin Rudd (Griffith, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

I would draw the member for Groom’s attention to the reasons for the government embracing a resources superprofits tax. Firstly, within the mining industry itself, it seeks to reform the way in which this is done—a tax on volume is what underpins the existing royalties regime. We will replace that with a tax on profits because we want to expand the industry over time. Secondly, by bringing the other tax changes into the mining industry we are also expanding the base of the industry by encouraging smaller mining companies to get into their operations earlier and not be slugged with a tax on volumes up front. Furthermore, this also provides stability for the taxation regime long term, as the PRRT regime did 25 years ago.

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