Thursday 2nd of May 2024
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abbott is nuts...

abbott is mad...

From Crabb

On the very remote off-chance that there is anyone out there who has found this week's back-and-forth about company tax utterly bewildering, I thought it might be useful to conclude the week with a brisk, no-nonsense recap of what's what, and who's up whom, company tax-wise.

Here's how it works: The government wants to raise taxes on mining companies (the mining tax) so that it can lower taxes for other companies - many of which, unlike some mining companies, actually do currently pay tax.

The Coalition doesn't want to raise taxes on mining companies. By extension, the Coalition is thus also stoutly opposed to any of the nice things the Government plans to do with the money, like cutting company tax for other companies, even though cutting company tax for other companies is otherwise something the Coalition likes to think of as one of its "things".

The Coalition's opposition to the mining tax is so absolute, in fact, that Wayne Swan could promise to blow the entire proceeds on VSU tattoos and busts of Bob Menzies and they still wouldn't budge.

Meanwhile, the Greens do want to raise taxes on mining companies, and their only major beef with the Government's plan is that it doesn’t involve anywhere near enough tax being levied on anywhere near enough miners. But they'll take what they can get. And they're okay with lowering company tax for other companies, just so long as those companies have a turnover of less than $2 million, and their production lines do not contain traces of nuts.* 

If this condition is not adjusted to their satisfaction, the Greens will just go ahead and vote with the Government to raise taxes on miners without lowering company tax for anyone at all; a world in which all companies pay more tax is a world in which Greens are generally prepared to live quite happily, should push come to shove.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-03-16/crabb--/3893144?WT.svl=theDrum

toxic tony

 

In the best tradition of the bush mechanics, both Labor and the Coalition are making do with some very dilapidated policy vehicles.

Since Australian political debate has resembled a demolition derby recently, this may not be so surprising but it pays to remind ourselves that - however proudly they are displayed - these ain't really smoothly purring street machines we're getting.

Exhibit A has to be the Gillard government's patched-back-together mining tax package and the bits that now seem likely to fall off it during its parliamentary passage.

 


Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/politics/no-gleam-of-soupedup-ideas-among-the-lemons-20120316-1vahc.html#ixzz1pLaaAWEM

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Etc... etc... Balanced words that do not reflect the situation... One should realise now that Labor is doing something like fixing the car while tony keeps pinching the hubcaps and throwing mud on the duco... If Labor's vehicle appears delapidated it is only due to Toxic Tony the menace. But in fact Labor's vehicle still works "forward" while Toxic Tony's machine is going backwards at a rate of knots without looking behind... Thus whatever the commentariators babble on, things are happening, not as fast as one could hope but they are still moving. It is about time that the opinionators start to kick Toxic Tony's backside with such a force it will break his devilish brains into a million pieces. Tony is not a bush mechanic... he's a slash and burn arsonist.

only one crown land...

Constitutional law experts are warning the states run the risk of losing their ownership of mineral rights to the Commonwealth in any legal challenge to the mining tax.

Fortescue Metals says it will challenge the constitutional validity of the Federal Government's minerals resource rent tax (MRRT) in the High Court after the legislation passed the Senate last night.

West Australian Premier Colin Barnett says his Government will back any challenge that is mounted.

The tax will come into effect from the middle of 2013 and the Government says it is confident in the legislation's legal standing.

One of the arguments is whether the tax breaches section 114 of the Constitution which prohibits federal taxes on state property.

But Professor Anne Twomey from Sydney University says the Commonwealth could argue that it actually owns the minerals, not the states.

"You certainly don't own the minerals beneath your land, that belongs to the Crown," she said.

"Now the difficulty in Australia is, well, how do you divide that up when you've got different crowns?

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-03-20/states-could-lose-rights-to-mineral-profits/3902164?WT.svl=news1

tony is an idiotic hypocrite...

 

Ms Gillard said her government would not accept a two-tiered system of company tax which the Treasury feels would discourage smaller companies from expanding and encourage larger ones to split themselves up to reduce their tax bill.

''We do not think it is a good system in the long term to have differential company tax rates,'' she said.

The Treasurer, Wayne Swan, said the Coalition's refusal to support lower business taxes was ''economic stupidity''.

Tony Abbott stood firm.


Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/political-news/mine-tax-secure-pm-rallies-on-companies-20120320-1vi00.html#ixzz1pgu46vyz

 

safe as houses...

Australian mines continue to rank as the world's top investments in terms of political risk, despite the looming introduction of the mining tax.

In its annual political risk assessment of the mining industry, global resources consulting firm Behre Dolbear placed Australia at the top of its 25-nation ranking, ahead of Canada, the US and Brazil.

Behre Dolbear chief executive Karr McCurdy says Australia has topped the list for several years.

Any investor concerns about the mining tax are mitigated by the quality of Australia's resources and the ease and transparency of approvals, Mr McCurdy says.

"There's no place better than Australia to put your investment dollars at work with respect to the underlying political, if you will, risk," he said.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-03-27/australia-tops-mine-investment-list/3914964