Ian Verrender
Does anyone remember the days of the anti-mining-tax campaign and obscene footage of Twiggy Forrest, one of the most offensively wealthy people in the world, dressed in the uniform of a mine worker, pretending to be one with the working class, while prancing around on national television effectively denying truth and justice to all?
Shall we all applaud the turn of events showcased in this article?
Back in the day, in the Eighties, whence all goodness began, there was a book floating around at my alma mater called "Mineral Economics" (don't ask me who the author is) which introduced and promoted a strange concept. This concept was called a 'resource rent tax'. Now a 'resource rent tax' has a number of mystical semi-miraculous but also arcane characteristics. It doesn't tax investment,
nor capital, but only income and not accrual income but only cash income. It is the saviour of capitalism itself and can transmogrify any abstruse mining company into a soft fluffy family friendly entity capable only of acting in the interests of the nation at large.
The circularity of public discourse is appalling. This concept was applied to the offshore gas and oil industry without any complaint. Then it came around to the land based minerals industry and a firestorm of hellish proportions irrupted. The most absurd criticism was that it didn't actually produce any revenue. By definition these things don't produce revenue during the investment phase. They are designed to do this. Well Duh.
Resource rent taxes are in fact an idea dreamed up by miners for miners in the interests of miners. The minute anyone mentions a full blown sovereign wealth fund which would have the benefits we actually need the miners drag out the resource rent tax and say 'no, no. Look over here. Don't look over there. Here good. There bad. here are all the reasons why.'
And we all just keep going around in circles. getting nowhere at a tremendous speed.
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