<
https://theconversation.com/is-australia-giving-away-its-natural-resources-236784>
"Speaking on ABC’s
Q&A on Monday night, Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph
Stiglitz claimed Australia was “giving away its natural resources”, something
he found “mind-boggling”.
He said that if Australia made the fossil fuel industry pay for the value of
the resources it extracts and its fair share of taxes, “you wouldn’t have the
problems that you have today”.
Stiglitz appeared to be referring to our profits-based petroleum resource rent
tax, also known as the “gas tax”.
Having formally researched and advised specialist forums on this issue for many
years, I agree with him that yes – we are giving away our wealth, both to
foreign countries and companies owned overseas.
It’s great to see an international heavyweight like Stiglitz pointing out some
of the glaring issues with our system. To fix it, the federal government needs
to get rid of its profit-based offshore gas tax altogether and revert to the
royalties-based system we used to have."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
