In what will no doubt be the first of many non-core promise reversals, Tony Abbott has this morning confirmed that the mining tax will not, in fact, be rolled back:
Opposition Leader Tony Abbott on Friday said the Coalition was still committed to abolishing Labor’s minerals resources rent tax, which so far has failed to garner the revenue forecast by Treasury.
But he said the PRRT was an “old tax” introduced by the Hawke Labor Government in the 1980s and the Coalition would consult with industry after the election about its retention.
…The opposition has previously pledged to scrap all parts of the MRRT, and in 2011 a Coalition-controlled Senate committee said the PRRT should be scrapped.
The PRRT was extended to onshore projects as a part of the RSPT reform so peeling it off at this point is really rather sneaky. Of course this is eminently sensible for any number of economic reasons and I applaud the move.
I just wonder what happened to all that stuff about never lying to anyone and Abbott’s fervent anti-tax rhetoric.
