The release today of the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) annual report on entity tax data confirms yet again that the Australian mining industry is the largest contributor to Australia’s economy.
The mining industry delivers benefits for all Australians via the enormous and record amounts of tax it pays to the government.
The ATO report shows that the 2468 largest entities in Australia paid $68.6 billion in company tax in the 2020-21 financial year and that the mining industry paid more than 40 per cent of that amount.
Australia’s three largest company taxpayers are mining companies and they paid $22.3 billion or 33 per cent of the tax paid by 2468 large entities.
In addition to the record amounts of company tax paid in 2020-21, the mining industry paid $16.7 billion of royalties to state and territory governments.
Company tax payments from the minerals industry help fund better services for the community, including mental health, aged care and woman’s programs. They also pay for schools, hospitals and other infrastructure.
The mining sector contribution was the key driver to the improvement in the federal budget outcome.
It has underpinned the nation’s prosperity and can be relied upon to generate large fiscal returns to the economy, having contributed $142.6 billion in company tax and $112 billion of royalties over the last decade.
A strong mining industry is central to Australia’s ability to grow and generate jobs, opportunities and government services to benefit all Australians.
The ATO reports that some businesses do not pay tax in a particular year because of commercial reasons including not making a profit, recouping prior year losses and unexpected shutdowns due to factors such as the Covid-19 pandemic.
While commodity prices are cyclical, Australia can continue to benefit from further growth in its mining industry if we get the policy settings right.
Demand for commodities such as lithium, copper, nickel and rare earth elements will climb as the world drives to lower emissions.
Australia can maximise our share of the investment required to deliver the critical commodities for the world, provided we have globally competitive tax rates and work place flexibility.
We do not want to put at risk our opportunity to generate future jobs and prosperity through changes to taxation or enterprise employment arrangements that make the country less competitive.
