actu, EMC, Essential Media, Essential Report, GDP, mining, mining companies, mining industry, Mining tax, peter lewis, Resource Rent Tax, The Drum
First published on The Drum: 22/02/2011
If there is any silver lining from the mining industry’s 20,800 per cent return on investment for knocking over the Rudd Government’s Resource Rent Tax, it’s that the punters are beginning to wise up.
As interest groups around the nation hone their scare campaigns in expectation of a price on carbon, this week’s Essential Report suggests the mining industry has dealt themselves out of any credible role in the debate.
With record profits the size of many sovereign nation’s GDPs and ongoing plans to extract even more of the national wealth, a majority of the public say they support forcing the mining industry to pay a greater share of their profits in tax.
Q: Would you approve or disapprove of higher taxes on the profits of large mining companies?
| Total | Vote Labor |
Vote Lib/Nat |
Vote Greens |
|
| Total approve | 56% | 75% | 36% | 83% |
| Total disapprove | 27% | 13% | 49% | 6% |
| Strongly approve | 21% | 32% | 6% | 46% |
| Approve | 35% | 43% | 30% | 37% |
| Disapprove | 20% | 11% | 35% | 4% |
| Strongly disapprove | 7% | 2% | 14% | 2% |
| Don’t know | 17% | 13% | 15% | 11% |
EMC, ER, Essential Media, Essential Report, Greens, higher mining taxes, Labor, Liberal, mine tax, Mining Company Profits, Mining tax, Polling, polls, Taxing Mining Companies
Q. Would you approve or disapprove of higher taxes on the profits of large mining companies?
| Total | Vote Labor | Vote Lib/Nat | Vote Greens | |
| Total approve | 56% | 75% | 36% | 83% |
| Total disapprove | 27% | 13% | 49% | 6% |
| Strongly approve | 21% | 32% | 6% | 46% |
| Approve | 35% | 43% | 30% | 37% |
| Disapprove | 20% | 11% | 35% | 4% |
| Strongly disapprove | 7% | 2% | 14% | 2% |
| Don’t know | 17% | 13% | 15% | 11% |
There was majority approval of higher taxes on the profits of large mining companies – 56% approved and 27% disapproved. Labor and Greens voters showed very high approval while Liberal/National voters split 36% approve/49% disapprove.
There were no significant differences by demographic groupings (age/income/work status).
EMC, ER, Essential Media, Essential Report, Greens, Labor, Liberal, mine tax, Mining Company Profits, Mining tax, Polling, polls, Taxing Mining Companies
Q. Would you approve or disapprove of higher taxes on the profits of large mining companies if the funds raised were used to provide higher superannuation for all workers?
| Total | Vote Labor | Vote Lib/Nat | Vote Greens | |
| Total approve | 56% | 68% | 44% | 84% |
| Total disapprove | 24% | 14% | 39% | 8% |
| Strongly approve | 20% | 33% | 8% | 37% |
| Approve | 36% | 35% | 36% | 47% |
| Disapprove | 16% | 11% | 25% | 4% |
| Strongly disapprove | 8% | 3% | 14% | 4% |
| Don’t know | 20% | 18% | 17% | 8% |
When asked whether they approved of higher taxes on the profits of large mining companies if the funds raised were used to provide higher superannuation for all workers, 56% approved (no change) and 24% disapproved (down 3%).
Labor voters were slightly less supportive if the funds were tied to super increases (approval down 7%) while Liberal/National voters were more supportive (approval up 8% and disapproval down 10%).
Full-time workers split 58% approve/27% disapprove, part-time workers 57% approve/17% disapprove and those not working 53% approve/25% disapprove. Highest disapproval was shown by workers earning over $1,600 per week – 56% approved but 32% disapproved.