Forestry and Conservation Minister, Senator Ian Macdonald, and Minister for Revenue and Assistant Treasurer, Mal Brough, today announced terms of reference for a Government review of the application of taxation law to plantation forestry.
The review, which was announced in the 2005-06 Budget, will be undertaken by officials from the Treasury and the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry with the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. It is intended that the Review will report to Government by the end of 2005.
Terms of reference for the review are attached.
Interested parties are invited to provide written submissions by the end of July 2005 to plantations@treasury.gov.au or to the following address:
Review of the Taxation of Plantation Forestry
C/- Department of the Treasury
Langton Crescent
PARKES ACT 2600
Submissions will be publicly available through the Treasury website unless correspondents request confidentiality.
Departmental contacts for the review will be:
Mr Matthew Collett, Department of the Treasury, 02 6263 2928
Mr Allan Hansard, Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, 02 6272
2394.
Review of Taxation Treatment of Plantation Forestry
Terms of reference
The Government has agreed that the Department of the Treasury and the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry with the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet are to conduct a review of the application of taxation law to plantation forestry in the context of the Government's broader plantation and natural resource management policies, addressing:
- the commercial viability and current tax treatment of plantation investment;
- whether the operation of the Income Tax Assessment Acts impedes investment in longer term forest rotations which produce higher value products;
- the role of State and Territory Governments in plantation industry development as investors, growers and land managers, and any implication this has for competitive neutrality with regard to tax liabilities and incentives;
- the capacity to adapt existing tax policies to contribute to achieving the Australian and State Governments' desire to achieve a greater integration of plantation and natural resource management policies to improve the management of salinity and water quality; and
- the relative roles and effectiveness of tax system and expenditure programmes in the delivery of assistance to the industry.