Australia’s second richest person and the boss of mining giant Fortescue Metals, Andrew Forrest, has accused Australia’s Treasurer Wayne Swan of lying about the amount of revenue the government will get from its mining tax.
The minority Labor government’s Minerals Resource Rent Tax (MRRT starts on July 1 and is forecast to collect $10.6 billion over three years.
“I’m sorry, your treasurer is lying to you,” Mr Forrest, a strong critic of the tax, told ABC Radio news.
“This is not going to raise anything like he is saying, it’s not going to fund his 2.7 million businesses and it is not going to fund the mums and dads’ super,” Mr Forrest added.
Under the Labor government’s plan, the MRRT would be a 30 per cent additional tax on the super profits of coal and iron ore miners.
Mr Forrest said his company would pay little tax under the MRRT, due to the depreciation allowances of mining projects offsetting its liabilities under the MRRT.
“I’ve worked it out and I can tell you it is not much,” he said.
Australia’s second richest person has claimed the impost would be on the small miners, not the big ones such as BHP Billiton, Rio Tinto and Xstrata, all of whom have agreed to the tax.
“It is a tax on the junior miners. It is not a tax on Fortescue,” Mr Forrest said.
“The bigger you go, the richer you are, the bigger the tax shelter because Wayne Swan gave away a huge shelter without telling the Australian workers, a huge shield against paying this tax if you are big.”
Mr Forrest has repeatedly said he plans to challenge the government’s MRRT legislation in the High Court.
“When you set out to deceive, things get very complicated,” he said.
“They have written a very complex piece of legislation to get around a High Court challenge.
Mr Forrest added; “We still think it is beatable.”
