Government to take mining tax to COAG

Gillard is set to take her dispute with Queensland and Western Australia over mining royalties to the Council of Australian Governments claims a recent article in the Australian.

Gillard hopes to prevent the standoff sinking her proposed 30 per cent mineral resources rent tax. Since the announcement of the tax on July 2, the West Australian government has announced plans to increase mining royalties.

The move prompted the Prime Minister to warn she was not prepared to write blank cheques for the states and her promise applied only to royalty increases that had been announced or scheduled by May 2.

It is understood one solution to the standoff that the commonwealth has considered is to allow the mining states to increase royalties but to offset the cost by reducing their GST receipts by the equivalent amount. What do you think about Gillard's move to present the mining to the COAG?

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