The Nationals WA cautious of Jumbo Tax, Holt
Author: Colin Holt
Published on: 06-May-2010
President of The Nationals WA, Colin Holt has questioned the impact the new Resources Super Profits Tax will have on regional WA, saying this is another tax grab from Canberra.
Mr Holt said the Henry the tax review ‘elephant’ is finally out in the open and The Nationals WA have again questioned if giving more money to Canberra, this time by taxing WA miners, will really mean regional Western Australians are better off?
“And we must firstly consider how this new tax will affect our State’s miners viability,” Mr Holt said.
“West Australians know that their State needs current and future mines to drive the economy. The sector employs many thousands of people and supports thousands of businesses and communities throughout the Regions and in Perth.”
“Are we risking the elephant sitting on and killing the golden goose?”
The new tax will reportedly collect a jumbo dividend of around $10 billion per year.
“Only some of this ($700m initially) will be put into an infrastructure fund to go back to the States where it was collected,” Mr Holt said.
“I guess the rest of it will be used to fund the Rudd Government’s enormous spending promises, most of which are focused on the populated States of NSW and Victoria.”
“Will WA be getting ripped off yet again?”
“WA has the right to demand its fair share of that infrastructure fund, and in addition, The Nationals WA ask that our own Royalties for Regions Program be matched dollar for dollar by the Federal Government to bolster that program’s great outcomes” said Mr Holt.
The Nationals WA outlined their plan to ‘reverse the rip-off’ and get WA’s fair share through a new State / Federal partnership in a discussion paper released last
