BHP Billiton boss Andrew Mackenzie says Grylls mining tax plan would hurt Australia
Aug 16 2016 at 6:29 PM Updated Aug 16 2016 at 6:29 PM
BHP says a WA mining tax would hurt east coast businesses too. Paul Jeffers
by Julie-anne Sprague
BHP Billiton chief executive Andrew Mackenzie has warned even coffee shop owners and taxi drivers on the eastern seaboard would feel the effects of a plan by the Nationals WA to slug the world's biggest miner with a $7.2 billion mining tax.
If the tax were in place today it would cost the miner about $1.3 billion a year, or a little under a third of its $US3.5 billion ($4.5 billion) underlying earnings.
Mr Mackenzie said he was perplexed by the proposal, which was "unfair and anti-job creation".
"If it were to proceed it would weaken the capacity of not just us and Rio but the whole industry to sustain and create Australian jobs in the future and risk the takings in the coffee shops and the taxis on the east coast," Mr Mackenzie said.
Mr Mackenzie said the effects of BHP's massive investments in the Pilbara spread right across Australia, because it boosted the economy, created tens of thousands of jobs and paid "massively" to the nation's tax take.
"That spreads right across Australia. It lifts the takings of coffee shops and the taxis on the east coast," Mr Mackenzie said.
"We have invested $25 billion in growing this outstanding business and so has Rio," Mr Mackenzie said. "That has led to a significant part of our tax payments in Australia, which is $65 billion over the last 10 years. About 20 per cent of that flows directly to the Western Australian coffers through royalties at the same time we contributed $300 million to the community."
He said the plan was a "curious proposal" under which two companies that had created a "gold medal winning position for Australia" were being asked to fix a "shortfall that has been created by others".
The Nationals are part of PM Malcolm Turnbull's ruling conservative coalition in Australia. The country/rural based partner.
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Iron Ore Giants Reject Proposed A$7.2 Billion Mining Tax Hike
Jesse Riseborough [and] JP_Riseborough
August 9, 2016 — 9:25 PM AEST Updated on August 10, 2016 — 10:32 AM AEST
[...]
The proposal isn’t “supported by business and was unlikely to proceed given it would need the support of the Nationals’ alliance partners,” Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Western Australia’s Chief Executive Officer Deidre Willmott said Tuesday in a statement.
Royalty income, Western Australia’s third-largest source of revenue after taxes and federal government grants, is forecast to decline 8 percent to about A$3.8 billion this fiscal year, mainly as a result of lower iron ore prices, the state government said in May.
“There are no grounds for a new mining tax in Western Australia and it should not be adopted as Nationals policy,” London-based Rio said in an e-mailed statement. “An ill-conceived tax grab will place these local jobs and the growth of Rio Tinto’s iron ore business at risk.”
Rio and BHP, together the second- and third-largest iron ore exporters in the world, have expanded aggressively in Western Australia, spending billions on new mines, ports and rail operations to tap surging demand from China. After climbing to a record of almost $200 a ton in 2011, the price of the steelmaking raw material plunged to near $60 a ton thanks to a deepening glut as producers expanded. International Market
“We do not understand why a proposal that is so discriminatory and uneconomic would be targeted at two companies,” BHP said in an e-mailed statement. Producers are operating in “an international market and we have to be able to compete or will lose market share,” the Melbourne-based producer said. Australia is the top iron ore exporter, ahead of Brazil. .. more ..http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-08-09/rio-tinto-rejects-proposed-7-2-billion-iron-ore-mining-tax-hike
F6, last night on seeing an interview of BHP boss Andrew Mackenzie i thought i may sneak a BHP post in .. so thank you .. :) .. oops, almost forgot .. thought is that Texas and Western Australia do have a bit in common in that in years past there have been secessionist feelings .. even today that lingers in a cranky few .. also, they tend to be more conservative than voters on the Eastern seaboard .. heh, ok, i see Trump's lead in Texas is about 6 now .. http://www.publicpolicypolling.com/main/2016/08/trump-leads-by-only-6-in-texas.html .
The Panama Papers: The files reveal the darker side of the BHP Billiton merger
Apr 4 2016 at 11:45 PM Updated Apr 5 2016 at 5:41 AM
BHP has stressed it remains committed to a target of 290 million tonnes and is now confident it can reach it without splashing cash on upgrading its port facilities. Bloomberg
By 2013, BHP Billiton's tax-free profits from its Singapore marketing hub were able to pay for a quarter of the dividend paid to shareholders of its British-listed Plc company.
Senior BHP Billiton executives dismissed the comparison and told The Australian Financial Review that merging with Billiton had been critical to the group's huge growth in the last decade. It had allowed BHP to spin off its problematic steel-making division while still having sufficient capital to borrow against, to finance the huge iron ore and petroleum investments held in the Australian arm of the group.
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