Labor mates mining Rudd’s new-found cash deposit

WayneT says:

10:20am | 10/06/10

Unfortunetly in this country even if we produced the finished product from the resources we mine, we wouldn’t be able to compete with countries like China, to sell that product overseas.  Most overseas producers wages costs are extremely low compared to Australia.

Super D says:

12:00pm | 10/06/10

Yep we can add as much value as China so long as we adopt their wage structures and environmental regulations.

Every time we increase wages or add new regulations we send jobs to countries that don’t adopt the same standards.  I’m not saying that this is a bad thing, just that we should always be aware of what we are doing and the results of the choices we make.

persephone says:

09:47am | 10/06/10

No, dead to me.

If the mining tax doesn’t go ahead, then companies won’t get a tax cut, the simpler tax return system will be dropped, the super contributions will be wound back and there won’t be an infrastructure fund.

The rest of the budget - including the return to surplus - will go ahead as planned.

Oh, and Federal terms are 3 years, not 4.

Overflow says:

11:21am | 10/06/10

Pers, in all your posts you support the introduction of the RSPT as it stands.  Can please explain to everyone why the Government

did not fully consult with industry before the announcement,

failed to release the economic modelling used to justify its claims,

used fairly dubious data from an overseas draft paper to mislead the public about the rate of tax paid

continue to use misleading data by excluding the amount of company tax paid

are bringing forward spending from a tax that is yet to exist in order to bribe the electorate

need to ensure a crowd at a community cabinet meeting are all Labor luvvies to ensure they get good press

Surely, our government, that rattles on about the national interest can rise above the rhetoric and counter all the so called scare mongering by simply stating the facts.  Or does the truth actually show the govt for the incompetent liars they are?

persephone says:

01:20pm | 10/06/10

Overflow

as I’ve shown countless times, the miners knew that a 40% tax was on the cards back in February. I don’t know how they knew this, but presume someone must have discussed it with them, suggesting that consultation of some sort was going on.

And I’m not sure any government ‘fully consults’ with industry groups before taxing them.

I don’t know about the details of economic modelling, but again, it’s not uncommon for governments not to release this. Certainly there’s plenty of information available on the economics of this tax, and I’ve not read any economists complaining that they don’t have enough information to form a view.

I’ve constantly referred to the Treasury note on this subject, which does incorporate the amount of company tax paid, so I’m not sure what you’re referring to.

Again, the benefits of the tax were outlined in the budget. Again, it’s not uncommon for a government to point out the benefits of a tax - I seem to recall the GST being promoted as providing the money for a tax cut to personal income rates.

I’m not aware of any vetting of the crowd. Quite the opposite; from reports I’ve read, it’s quite obvious there were people in there who disagreed with the government. And I haven’t seen any Liberal government - or indeed, Opposition - with the courage to expose themselves to ordinary people and their questions in this way.

Given that you start from the premise that the government are incompetent liars, I think any efforts spent trying to educate you on the benefits of the tax would be time and money wasted.

Randal says:

02:12pm | 10/06/10

Which of course Pers would be a huge win for small business, 60% of who are mot incorporated and therefore will receive mo benefit from the cut in company tax, but 100% of whom will be hit by the need to pay many of thousands dollars they cannot afford in additional superannuation.

Seems to me that killing this tax will be a win for business, superannuation funds, investors, the resources sector, cost of living and ultimately job creation.

Thanks for helping to make the benefits of not having this Really Stupid Profits Tax made so clear, I really do appreciate it.

luke09 says:

02:46pm | 10/06/10

persephone, the miners never agreed to a 40% tax rate. You say, when the RSPT was announced it was to go towards returning the budget to surplus, company tax cuts and super increases, now suddenly $4-6 billion of the proceeds from the new tax will be “diverted” to WA and Queensland.(announced by Rudd)

How can this happen? Another change to a policy, I hope treasury were consulted but I doubt it. Rudd is never true to his word.

persephone says:

04:51pm | 10/06/10

luke

no suddenly about it, the figures were in the budget papers. The money is being committed as was always intended.

Randal

as usual, you’ve taken my answer out of context - I was correcting d2m’s misunderstanding about the connection between the tax proposal and the surplus.

I repeat: the tax receipts are allocated to certain projects. If the tax doesn’t come in, the projects won’t happen. Therefore the tax coming in or not has nothing to do with getting back to surplus.

Against the Man says:

05:10pm | 10/06/10

The super tax is a cover for wasted monies, and having no infrastructure fund is not a good thing and if not guaranteed should not have been mentioned in the budget. Making promises you can’t keep is not good enough at this stage of the game ruddy. And I’d like to see the budget return to surplus but then again we know what a labor/rudd promise is worth.

luke09 says:

12:15pm | 11/06/10

persephone, the money is not being used as intended before the downfall of Rudd in WA and QLD, I doubt WA would have recieved 1 billion from the 6 billion infrastructure fund. Rudd is only vote buying to save his job.

Andrew says:

09:54am | 10/06/10

Fair point. But the Gunns issue is a little different. I don’t think we would have steel makers in Tassie wilderness.

antiperspirant says:

11:23am | 10/06/10

Answer = no, nada, never, uh uh. nope, lol nope, neva. nowai, snicker, *roll eyes*

You get the picture.

Drovers dog time imo.

Evan Findlay says:

08:40pm | 10/06/10

It will simply do as the previous Liberal government did…. nothing. You can’t be accused of incompetency when you don’t actually set out to do anything and achieve even less. Just spend, spend and spend the windfall from the mining boom on baby bonuses, cash splashes, pork barreling and middle class welfare.

persephone says:

01:25pm | 10/06/10

John Howard’s dream Adelaide-Darwin railway was sold at a billion dollar loss only the other day.

The dental scheme set up by Tony Abbott as Health Minister has turned out to have been rorted by dentists to the tune of $7 million.

Costello lost millions on currency deals because he was too scared to tinker with something Keating had put in place (which Keating had made clear needed regular reviewing).

The Howard government, in its first term, saw the sacking of several ministers, the invention of the ‘core’ and ‘non core’ promise and reporters in Washington pretending they had nothing to do with the PM during his visit there, because they saw him as such an embarrassment.

Randal says:

02:36pm | 10/06/10

Is that it Pers?? 

11 years of Howard and all you have is a handful of rorting dentists who have been caught, a sale of a railway line following a private company going into administration, scuttlebutt that maybe some people in Washington maybe don’t like Howard, and some obscure reference to losses on the currency market.

Now compare that to $8 billion wasted on the Building Rorts and the lethal insulation programs, not to mention the burned houses, 6000 job losses and the death of 4 innocent workers.

The failure of the Green Loans, Fuel Watch, Grocery Watch, Climate Change etc… etc…

And not a Minister sacked, unlike Howard as you rightly pointed out, who acted immediately to remove a Minister who was unable or incapable of performing, lucky for Garrett he was not a Minister under Howard, how long do you think incompetence of that magnitude would have lasted Pers??

Add to that a national government debt fast approaching 150 billion and a budget with an imaginary surplus.

Now we have the Really Stupid Profits Tax that threatens the only industry that is keeping Australia’s head above the global economic quagmire.

All that in just 3 years, imagine the pages we could fill in another 8, and thank you again for reminding us of the success of the Howard government and the absolute colossal failure we have in now by comparison.

Let’s hope the electorate is awake to these things as your are Pers, by the look of the polls they seem to be right on the money.

Super D says:

02:42pm | 10/06/10

Better to blow a billion dollars on a north-south railway than on installing then uninstalling roofing insulation…..

Evan Findlay says:

08:44pm | 10/06/10

Not to mention that Costello sold off 40% of our gold reserves at $385 an ounce arguing that gold no longer represented a viable commodity that countries could hold in large reserves. NFI.  He was a policy bum and when he did make decisions he proved that he could understand basic economics and was to stupid to implement reform.

Anthony of Wa says:

11:59pm | 10/06/10

Persphone, the problem now, I suppose is the lost millions is now billions