HOST:
David Bradbury, there's reports in the paper today that the mining tax has failed to raise any money for the government in the first quarter. The surplus now paper-thin at $1.1 billion, looking like it won't happen.
BRADBURY:
Well I see that there are some reports in the newspapers today but of course the government's not in a position to comment on the individual tax arrangements of particular companies. As you'd be aware, this is one of those taxes that applies to a relatively small range of companies. Look, to be honest, that shouldn't surprise anyone; I think that it's a pretty important part of our system that we don't have members of the government snooping around into the individual tax matters of individual taxpayers.
HOST:
This is just one quarter, what does this mean for the next nine months? I mean, the government's relying on $2 billion in revenue from the mining tax to make this budget surplus, do you have any confidence that that surplus can now be reached?
BRADBURY:
Well you're making some assumptions about what the state of play in relation to those payments may or may not be, I would caution against that. But what I would say is we've just handed down our mid-year review and as part of that process we've already undertaken some measures, writing down our forecasts in relation to the MRRT, but obviously we do expect to receive some income, not just in this year but across the forward estimates from the MRRT and that is something that we stand behind.
HOST:
What we do know is government tax receipts are lower because of a lowering in commodity prices, that is affecting government revenue, that is something that was in MYEFO. Is there now a case to look at expanding the tax to look at uranium and copper or lowering the threshold at which the super profits tax does kick in?
BRADBURY:
Let's not get ahead of ourselves, people are making all sorts of rash judgements based upon what is a rumoured report in a newspaper. Unsourced, unnamed. Let's deal with the facts in front of us. This is a consultative process we went through in order to introduce this MRRT, it's now in effect and there will be fluctuations in terms of the revenue that comes in with this tax as there are with all other taxes. I'd make the point that if you look at something like the PRRT which has been a very strong and stable source of government revenue for a number of years now, we've seen fluctuations. Sometimes the revenue comes in under forecast and sometimes it comes in well and truly over. We are standing by the figures that are in the mid-year review and of course I would make the point that in the scheme of overall Commonwealth revenues, the mining tax accounts for about one per cent, a little less than one per cent, of overall revenues, so we have to keep that in perspective. But we stand by the figures in the mid-year review and of course, as part of that process, we've made considerable savings, structural savings in many respects, in order to make sure that we give the Reserve Bank the room that it needs to continue to cut interest rates.
HOST:
Now the government working tax group has failed to come up with a revenue-neutral way of cutting the company tax. Some members of this group say the rules meant it was doomed from the start. Do you still have a commitment to get this company tax cut over the line and how are you going to do it now?
BRADBURY:
A couple of important points to make. The first one is that many members of the business community had suggested to the government that one way of reducing the corporate rate might be by eliminating some of the corporate tax concessions that currently exist. On that basis, we put a fair bit of faith and trust in the Business Tax Working Group to work itself through this process, and as we saw with the release of their report yesterday that has been difficult to achieve. Can I also make the point that there have been other areas where there have been reductions in corporate tax arrangements that have been funded within the corporate tax system; the Ralph Review and the Review of Business Taxation certainly delivered that. But can I also remind your viewers that we were intending to deliver a corporate tax cut. It was Mr Abbott, Mr Hockey, standing up side by side with the Greens saying they would block that in Parliament.
HOST:
David Bradbury it was your commitment to reduce the corporate tax cut, it was meant to be through the mining tax and the Greens of course and the Liberal Party didn't vote for it, but it's not going to happen in the foreseeable future, is it?
BRADBURY:
We would like to see a cut to the company tax rate, that's something that we'd like to see happen, but of course money doesn't grow on trees and if there's no consensus within the business community as to how to fund this, then one of the alternatives out there is to make families pay for that. We don't favour that proposition. Can I make this point though, and that is that there is only one political party out there that is proposing to jack up corporate taxes and I think this is the elephant in the boardroom when we talk about corporate tax discussions in this country. There is a threatening silence in relation to this matter. We have Mr Abbott and Mr Hockey out there proposing to slug more than 3,000 Australian businesses with a $12 billion tax. This is a $12 billion tax and there's almost silence from the business community. People need to understand that while we remain committed to trying to cut taxes, and we've got a good record in having done this already, an Abbott government will increase the corporate tax for over 3,000 companies by 1.5 per cent. A $12 billion monster tax on business, yet I hear very little criticism from the business community on this issue.
HOST:
The Opposition are pointing out today that when Julia Gillard took over the leadership and rolled Kevin Rudd, she promised to implement a carbon tax, fix the boats situation and also fix the mining tax. She's failed her own test here, hasn't she?
BRADBURY:
I think she has addressed those issues one by one. We have introduced a Minerals Resource Rent Tax and look, Mr Hockey's out there today criticising the government because he says it's not raising enough money. This was the same bloke that was out there saying that it would kill the goose that laid the golden egg. Well the golden eggs are still coming, the goose is still intact. The only thing that's not intact are Mr Hockey and Mr Abbott's credibility. When it comes to carbon pricing, the Prime Minister has delivered, in extraordinarily difficult circumstances, a reform that will hold this country and our economy up for the future and to take advantage of opportunities in the future. And when it comes to border protection, we have embraced some very difficult policies but policies that are very strongly approached and directed towards deterring the flow of people across the high seas to our borders. None of these issues are easy issues but I think considerable progress has been made. There's still more to be done, but there are no silver bullets when it comes to any of these policy areas but we're going to get on with the job of dealing with these issues as we move forward.
HOST:
David Bradbury thanks so much.
BRADBURY:
Thanks Laura, good to be with you.