Mining Tax: Bob Brown will pursue better outcome for Australians

Senator Brown has said The Greens will work hard for a better outcome for small business when the mining tax comes to be reviewed in the Senate. This includes a push to return the tax rate to the promised 28%.

You might want to write a Letter to the Editor today in support of this action by the Greens, noting that unlike the Opposition The Greens do not want to block the tax, but they do want to work together with the Government for a better outcome for Australians - just like they did with the stimulus package last year.

You may also choose to point out that the front page of The Australian today notes that "..the government had given up about $4.5bn in potential revenue when it renegotiated the tax... which is three times more than the government claimed last week." 

This vindicates Senator Brown's position that the full cost of the backdown needed to be explained to Australians.

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Greens want to change mining tax (AAP/SMH)

"There could be more changes made to the new mining tax, with the

Australian Greens flagging that they want to amend it in the Senate. With

the opposition rejecting the tax proposal, the government will need to win

over the Greens - and possibly more senators - to get it through

parliament after the election. Greens leader Bob Brown took a dim view of

what he described as a "monumental backdown" by the government last week

over the tax. But Senator Brown said he didn't want to block the tax. "It

is not my intention to block it but to make it better," he told ABC

Television. Senator Brown did not elaborate on which changes the Greens

would pursue, beyond noting he had previously called for a sovereign fund

to be set up to safeguard the money raised. He was concerned that small

businesses would get a smaller cut in company tax because of the scaling

back of the mining tax. And he raised questions about how much the tax

compromise would affect revenue, saying that compromise would cut revenue

by about $4 billion dollars a year, after the first few years..."

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Greens push to have tax cut to 28% (Daily Mercury/Mackay News)

"THE Greens will seek to reduce the company tax rate to 28 per cent to

reduce the impost on small business, leader Bob Brown said yesterday. 

“Small business employs many times more people in Queensland, as well as

the rest of the country, than mining,” he said. “There is now going to be

an extra one per cent tax on incorporated small business, which is going

to be paying 29 cents in the dollar instead of 28 cents in the dollar. I’d

like to see it go back to 28 per cent instead of being at 29 per cent.”

Senator Brown said the Greens supported the other changes to the mining

tax but were concerned Opposition leader Tony Abbott would reject it if he

had the numbers in the Senate. “He has said he will block the mining tax

full stop – even the new Gillard arrangement will be blocked in the

Senate,” Senator Brown said. “We Greens will get a better outcome.”