Summary of Recommendations
Recommendation 1
3.113 The
committee recommends that the Parliament not support the deeply flawed and
poorly designed MRRT and expanded PRRT.
3.114 Should
the Parliament be inclined to consider the government's proposed mining tax
contrary to this principal recommendation, the committee makes the following
further recommendations:
Recommendation 2
3.115 The
committee recommends that Parliament insist that government proposals to make
major structural changes to Australia's tax system be based on an open,
transparent and inclusive policy development process before final policy
decisions are made.
3.116 The
committee also recommends that the Parliament refuse to consider any changes to
resource taxation which have implications for state and territory royalty
arrangements until the government can demonstrate that it has actively engaged
and reached agreement with state and territory governments.
Recommendation 3
3.117 The
committee recommends that in line with the government's stated commitment to
openness and transparency the Parliament require the public release of all
mining tax related revenue assumptions, including commodity price and
production volume assumptions.
3.118 To
enable proper scrutiny of the government's mining tax revenue estimates, the
committee recommends that the Parliament insist on release of that information
before it agrees to consider any mining tax related legislation.
Recommendation 4
3.119 The
committee recommends that the government should not implement any future
taxation reform without first providing the Australian public with
independently verified modelling demonstrating any impact of the proposed
reform on:
- employment
- investment
- industry
- Australia's
international competitiveness
- the Commonwealth’s
budget position
- State and Territory
revenues
- cost of living; and
- the Australian Economy
as a whole.
Recommendation 5
3.120 The
committee recommends that the Parliament insist on the government restoring
confidence in good regulatory processes by:
- formally recommitting to
the best-practice regulation guidelines developed by its Office of Best
Practice Regulation;
- confirming that
proposals for new taxes require the development of Regulatory Impact Statements
consistent with the requirements of the best-practice regulation handbook
3.121 The
committee recommends that before considering any mining tax related legislation
the Parliament insist on a report from the Office of Best Practice Regulation
about the extent to which the government's policy development processes for the
RSPT, MRRT and expanded PRRT were consistent with its own best-practice
regulation guidelines.
3.122 The
committee recommends that the Office of Best Practice Regulation be required to
make recommendations to improve the government's compliance with these
principles.
Recommendation 6
4.113 The committee
again recommends that because the government's proposed MRRT and expanded PRRT
would impose more economic distortions than existing royalty regimes, the
Parliament not support any plans by government to pass legislation to give
effect to these proposed new taxes.
Recommendation 7
5.89 The committee
recommends that, if contrary to its principal recommendation the Parliament is
of a mind to pass these flawed resource rent tax arrangements, the Parliament
amend the legislation to ensure revenues raised, which are subject to high
volatility and likely to reduce over time, are used to increase the net
financial worth of the Australian government either through the payback of debt
or investment in assets through the Future Fund.
Recommendation 8
6.143 The committee
recommends that the Parliament insist on the government tabling an agreement
with the states and territories about the interaction between the proposed
MRRT/expanded PRRT, royalties, GST sharing arrangements and any other related
federal-state financial relations issues before considering any mining tax
related legislation.
Recommendation 9
7.25 The
committee recommends that the current uncoordinated, incoherent and ad hoc
taxation processes currently underway be replaced by one genuine tax reform
process focused on delivering lower, simpler and fairer taxes, through an open,
transparent and inclusive process.
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