A DELOITTE Access Economics (DAE) report has revealed the Australian minerals industry has paid more than $116 billion in company tax and royalties since 2006-07.

The 2013 Minerals Industry Tax Data Survey, commissioned by the Minerals Council of Australia, combines results from 22 major mining companies with DAE industry-wide figures. It does not include a range of other taxes and charges including the carbon tax, the Minerals Resource Rent Tax and payroll tax.

“DAE’s report on the minerals industry’s tax contribution demonstrates conclusively that Australia’s mining industry is returning a significant dividend to federal and state governments,” says MCA chief executive officer Mitch Hooke.

“The industry-wide figures, which combine actual taxes paid with DAE estimates, put the federal company tax contribution at $69.7 billion between 2006-07 and 2012-13.

“The total state royalty contribution over the same period is $47.2 billion.

“In 2012-13, DAE estimates the minerals industry paid $17.6 billion in company tax and royalties. In 2011-12 the figure was $21.2 billion and in 2010-2011– when the original Resources Super Profits Tax was proposed – the industry paid $22.6 billion.”

The report highlighted two key insights regarding the minerals sector’s tax contribution of the past five years.

• The overall tax contribution of the minerals industry has been remarkably steady over the survey period, with the total tax ratio varying by less than three percentage points over the entire period.
• The year to year volatility in the total tax contribution is not only small but also predominately driven by cyclical factors, rather than displaying evidence of some persistent downward trend.

“This data provides further evidence that Australians are receiving a fair share from the mining sector,” says Hooke

The report says a slight decline in royalty and tax payments over the past few years reflects the combined pressures resulting from lower commodity prices, greater strength in the Australian dollar and higher operating costs.

“Over the life of the millennium mining boom, the industry has paid more than $145 billion in company tax and royalties,” says Hooke.

“Calls for an even higher tax burden on the industry are divorced from the facts and from any rational consideration of what Australia must do to remain an attractive investment destination and competitive supplier of minerals resources.”