Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard has announced that her government has reached an agreement with mining companies on a new resources tax.

Today PM Gillard proudly declared that a breakthrough agreement on improved resource tax arrangements that addresses the concerns of the resource industry.

"These arrangements will fund an historic boost to superannuation, new and better infrastructure, and business tax cuts including an up-front tax break and less red tape for small businesses to help them grow and thrive," Gillard said in a news conference.

She added that the said "agreement provides certainty to the resources industry, to mining communities right around the country, and to the broader Australian economy."

Policy transition group

A Policy Transition Group, led by Resources Minister Martin Ferguson AM and Mr. Don Argus AC and comprising credible, respected industry leaders will oversee the development of more detailed technical design to ensure the agreed design principles become effective legislation. This will have the objective of ensuring the agreed principles are effected in line with their intent in a commercial, practical manner.

In a news release emailed: The improved resource tax reforms involve:

A new Minerals Resource Rent Tax (MRRT) regime applying to iron ore and coal in Australia; and extending the current Petroleum Resource Rent Tax (PRRT) regime to all Australian onshore and offshore oil and gas projects, including the North West Shelf. This will provide certainty for oil and gas projects and ensure all oil and gas projects are treated equitably.

The Government will focus the resource tax reforms on our biggest and most profitable commodities: iron ore, coal, oil and gas. These represent three-quarters of the value of our exports and resource operating profits and account for an even greater share of resource rents in the mining industry. They also represent the vast bulk of growth in the sector over the coming decades.

Since the beginning of the mining boom, prices for iron ore have increased by over 400 percent and prices for black coal have increased over 200 percent.

Other commodities will not be included, which reduces the number of affected companies from 2,500 to around 320. These commodities were not expected to pay significant amounts of resource rent tax, and excluding them will allow many companies to remain in their existing taxation regimes.

The agreement also provides certainty for projects in the emerging industry of converting coal seam gas to LNG, by including all Australian onshore and offshore oil and gas projects, including the North West Shelf, in the PRRT. Including all oil and gas projects in the one regime will ensure equitable tax treatment between competing projects.

To ensure the smooth implementation of the new arrangements the Government is establishing a Policy Transition Group (PTG) led by Resources Minister Martin Ferguson AM and Mr. Don Argus AC to consult with industry and advise the Government on the implementation of the new MRRT and PRRT arrangements.

Further detail on the improved resource tax reforms is contained in the Attachment (below).

The improved resource tax reforms are estimated to reduce revenue by $1.5 billion over the forward estimates. As the Government has always said, all elements of the tax reform package are dependent on the package being balanced by the revenues from resource taxation.

The reduced revenue makes necessary the following revisions to the associated reforms:

The company tax rate will continue to be cut to 29 per cent from 2013-14 but will not be further reduced under current fiscal conditions. Small companies will benefit from an early cut to the company tax rate to 29 per cent from 2012-13.

The resource exploration rebate will not be pursued. Resource exploration costs will continue to be deductible in the normal way and the PTG will consider the best way to promote future exploration and ensure a pipeline of resource projects for future generations.

We believe these improved reforms offer the best chance of delivering for hard-working families and small businesses around Australia while protecting and growing our great mining industry.

All along, our objective has been to deliver Australians a better return for the resources they own, which can only be extracted once, and this plan will deliver on that commitment.

We came together as a nation to stare down the worst of the global recession and now we come together to reform our economy, improve our tax system, and move forward with confidence.

Attachment:

Agreed principles for Australia's resource rent tax arrangements

Today the Government announces new resource rent tax arrangements which will apply from 1 July 2012 to Australia's most highly profitable non-renewable resources; oil, gas, iron ore and coal.

The changes recognize the views of industry about how they would like new investment to be treated - through higher uplift factors and faster depreciation of new investment, rather than guaranteed refundability of unused tax deductions.

The new resource tax arrangement will apply to the value of the resource, rather than the value added by the miner. It will do this by setting the taxing point at the mine gate where possible, and using appropriate pricing arrangements to ensure only the value of the resource is taxed.

The MRRT will apply an internationally competitive rate of 30 percent.

The new arrangements also recognize the preference of industry for more generous recognition of past investment, through a credit that recognizes the market value of that investment written down over a period of up to 25 years. For companies that prefer to use their current written down book values a generous accelerated depreciation over 5 years will be available.

MRRT - Bulk commodity resource tax arrangements

Iron ore and coal will be subject to a new profits-based Minerals Resource Rent Tax (MRRT) at a rate of 30 per cent.

MRRT assessable profits are calculated on the value of the commodity, determined at its first saleable form (at mine gate), less all costs to that point.

Projects will be entitled to a 25 percent extraction allowance that reduces taxable profits subject to the MRRT. This allowance recognizes the contribution of the miner's expertise to profits at the mine gate.

Small miners with resource profits below $50 million per annum will not have an MRRT liability.

Miners may elect to use the book or market value as the starting base for project assets, with depreciation accelerated over 5 years when book value, excluding mining rights, is used; or effective life (up to 25 years) when market value at 1 May 2010, including mining rights, is used. All post 1 May 2010 capital expenditure will be added to the starting base.

A book value starting base will be uplifted with the long term bond rate plus 7 percent. However, a market value starting base will not be uplifted.

Investment post 1 July 2012 will be able to be written off immediately, rather than depreciated over a number of years. This allows mining projects to access the deductions immediately, and means a project will not pay any MRRT until it has made enough profit to pay off its upfront investment.

The deductibility of expenditure under MRRT will be broadly based on the categories used in the PRRT regime.

MRRT losses will be transferable to other iron ore and coal projects in Australia. This supports mine development because it means a company can use the deductions that flow from investments in the construction phase of a project to offset the MRRT liability from another of its projects that is in the production phase.

Unutilized MRRT losses will be carried forward at the government long term bond rate plus 7 percent.

Unused credits for royalties paid will be uplifted at the government long term bond rate plus 7 percent, as per other expenses. Unutilized royalty credits will not be transferrable or refundable.

PRRT - A national taxation system for all oil and gas, onshore and offshore Australia

The Petroleum Resource Rent Tax (PRRT) regime, which currently only applies to offshore petroleum projects will be extended to cover all oil, gas and coal seam methane projects, onshore and offshore Australia. The PRRT will apply at a rate of 40 percent.

Companies may elect to use market value as the starting base for project assets, including oil and gas rights. All state and federal resource taxes will be creditable against current and future PRRT liabilities from a project.

The standard features of the current PRRT will otherwise apply, including the range of uplift allowances for unutilized losses and capital write-offs; immediate expensing for expenditure and limited transfer of the tax value of losses.