Rio Tinto worried Australian tax may give other countries ideas
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd’s proposed ‘super tax’ on miners is still causing the industry to vent its collective spleen in anger.
Xstrata have added to the list of companies promising to cancel expansion if the tax pushes through.
Rio Tinto is one of the latest companies to comment. At their delayed Australian AGM, CEO Tom Albanese told shareholders, “we are concerned that other countries may see this as something they want to try out, too.” That sounds almost like a challenge to other countries, many of whom have been reflecting on this issue. If other countries take this up as well, then where will the companies have to flee to? It appears that mining legislative issues are switching from the 90s ‘race to the bottom’ to a ‘race to the top’.
See http://www.minesandcommunities.org/article.php?a=10151.
See also: Australian mining tax “deeply flawed” BHP Billiton
According to the transnational miner, the Australian government needs to go back to the drawing board on its proposed tax. See http://www.mineweb.com/mineweb/view/mineweb/en/page72068?oid=105811&sn=Detail&pid=92730.