From the AFR:
On the first morning of Fortescue’s challenge to the MRRT on Wednesday, the company’s counsel David Jackson, QC, told the court that the tax breached section 51(2) of the Constitution because it calculated a miner’s liability by reference to the royalties it paid.
As royalties vary from state to state, this meant a miner’s liability also varied depending on where their operations were located, resulting in impermissible discrimination, Mr Jackson said.
…But four of the six judges hearing the case queried how the deduction of state royalties from mining profits to calculate the tax paid differed from any other kind of allowable deduction, which could include state taxes – echoing a key argument of the Commonwealth as to why the MRRT is not discriminatory.
