29-March-2011
Portfolio Media Releases
Topics: Greens oppose company tax cuts from mining tax revenue
E&OE
ALEX KIRK:
As we heard earlier the Greens leader Bob Brown doesn’t fancy the idea of giving mining firms a company tax cut to soften the impost of the resources rent tax.
He says the Greens will oppose the measure. While the Government says it’s determined to push ahead with a tax cut, the Opposition says that the Greens are in cahoots with the Government to scuttle the mining resource rent tax.
ANDREW ROBB:
It’s got all the look of the Greens in cahoots with Labor to give them a get out of jail free card to cover the gross mismanagement of the budget and the mess they’ve made of the mining tax.
ALEX KIRK:
Why would the Government welcome it?
ANDREW ROBB:
Well, there is speculation that the Government has severely overestimated the mining tax revenue and secondly they are looking for every avenue to minimise promises that they’ve made or to remove promises, to be forced into removing promises by the Greens, on this occasion, you’d have to be cynical about the cooperation that’s going on between Labor and the Greens to minimise the commitments that they’ve made to the budget.
ALEX KIRK:
The Greens say that they won’t support the tax cuts for big business associated with the proposed mining resource rent tax. Would the Coalition step into the breach to support a one per cent cut to the company tax rate?
ANDREW ROBB:
Well, we would have delivered corporate tax cuts, fully funded out of the budget but we haven’t and we don’t support the mining tax.
ALEX KIRK:
But given the opportunity to support a one per cent cut to the company tax rate, as a separate piece of legislation, would you support it?
ANDREW ROBB:
We went to the election supporting a tax cut for all of business. We don’t support the mining tax and we will not support initiatives out of the mining tax.