Australia promotes resource tax reform

Recently, the Australian government has reached an agreement with Australian mining companies. The huge dispute that has arisen in Australia since the beginning of May for the levy of excessive profits on resources has finally been expected to subside. According to the agreement reached here, the Australian government will replace the earlier proposed resource excess profit tax plan with a mineral resource lease tax. The scope of taxation has been reduced from the mineral resources sector including mining and petroleum subsectors to the iron ore and coal mining sectors, and the tax rate has also been reduced from 40% to 30%. This time, the Australian government has adopted a more flexible and pragmatic attitude, which has made Australia's resource tax reforms move forward.

Despite the enormous resistance from Australian mining companies, the Australian government still strives to make breakthroughs in resource tax reforms to replace the existing resource tax and royalty system with a new taxation system. In recent years, commodity prices of global resources have risen steadily. However, the revenue growth of the Australian government has been far lower than that of mining companies. At the same time, the mining industry’s overweight in the national economy has also given an equilibrium stability to Australia’s economic structure. Adverse effects. The growth of Australia’s mineral resources exports drastically pushed up the exchange rate of the Australian dollar, which reduced the international competitiveness of the manufacturing sector and was detrimental to the long-term development of the Australian economy. At the same time, the price of mineral resources rose, and international financial capital accelerated into Australia, accentuating domestic Inflation has increased the risk of volatility in domestic financial markets. In addition, the high profits of mining companies have raised the cost of raw materials, labor and capital in Australia, making the competitiveness of other economic sectors relatively lower and affecting the balanced development of the Australian economy.

For the Australian government, the new agreement reached with the mining companies will help reduce the government's fiscal deficit, reduce the pressure on the appreciation of the Australian dollar, and help adjust the economic structure of Australia. The new agreement reflects the flexibility and pragmatism of the Australian government. Although the scope of taxation and taxation rates have been reduced, it is still possible to increase the government’s revenue from the 2% to 8% of mining concession fees that are currently imposed on mining companies. Revenue. According to the new tax system, although the Australian government will be deducting A$1.5 billion more than the resource excess profit tax scheme, the Australian government has cancelled the resource exploration rebate subsidy policy for mining companies and postponed the implementation of the mining enterprise income tax relief policy, and will not continue to reduce the Income tax rates, these measures to a certain extent offset the reduction of tax revenue due to lower resource tax rates. The completion of the new agreement has stabilized the production and operation of mining companies in Australia and will reduce the impact of the introduction of new taxes on the Australian economy to a minimum.

The new agreement differentiates mining giants such as BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto from small and medium-sized mining companies. It reflects the appropriate care for SMEs in policies, minimizes the tax burden on SMEs, and protects their growth potential. According to the new agreement, the government's taxation plan is valid only for 320 out of 2,500 resource companies in Australia. Small-scale mineral enterprises with annual profit levels below 50 million Australian dollars are not eligible for this resource lease tax policy. In fiscal 2013, we enjoyed preferential income tax rates in advance. In the long run, the new revenue portion of the Australian government will also be mainly used to pay pensions, increase the construction of mining infrastructure, and support the development of small businesses, which can help small and medium-sized mining companies to increase their competitiveness.

In addition, the Australian government has set a new threshold for resource lease tax, which means that mining companies must pay the relevant taxes only when the profit rate reaches 12% or more, which greatly reduces the tax burden on the company. At the same time, the government will also allow companies to pay taxes based on market value rather than book value, so that companies can receive tax refunds for asset depreciation. Industry insiders believe that before the new taxation system is officially implemented in 2012, large Australian mining companies may increase the supply of ore to achieve future profits ahead of schedule.