PROFITS are an "incomplete and therefore misleading" measure of a mining project's contribution to its local community, according to a spokesperson for the Minerals Council of Australia.
She said that as well as the dividends paid to local shareholders, which include superannuation funds, calculations of the overall financial contribution must include local, state and federal government taxes.
It should also include fees and charges, capital investment, salaries and wages, local and national "procurement" and community investment.
"Deloitte Access Economics have analysed (data from) state, territory and federal budget papers as well as the Australian Taxation Office, the Bureau of Resources and Energy Economics, and Australian Bureau of Statistics, to conclude that the minerals paid $117 billion in company tax and royalty payments between 2006-07 and 2012-13," she said.
"DAE caclulates that the industry's effective tax rate has averaged in excess of 40 per cent over the past five years.
"The ABS reported that mining's capital expenditure in Australia was more than $92b in the year to March, 2014."
She said mining spent $34.7b on community infrastructure, local suppliers, indigenous contractors and other community-related activities in 2011-12 alone, as reported by consultancy company Banarra.
"Reserve Bank of Australia research has found that between 2003-04 and 2011-12 the mining-related share of the economy, including the oil and gas sector, doubled to reach about 18 per cent of nominal GDP," she said.
"Average weekly household incomes in Australia climbed by almost 40pc over the period described as the 'millennium boom', from 2002-03 to 2011-12.
"While WA (66pc) and the NT (56pc) enjoyed the highest increases in real weekly household income, households in all jurisdictions had increases in weekly earnings of about 30pc or more between 2002-03 and 2011-12."
"There is a higher proportion of families in mining regions than non-mining regions – 44pc of resident households are made up of mum, dad and the kids in mining regions, compared with 40pc across regional Australia.
"This runs counter to the belief that mining regions are dominated by young, single males."
* Full report in Stock Journal, July 10, 2014 issue.
Malcolm Sutton
Stock Journal's news journalist and magazine editor.
Stock Journal's news journalist and magazine editor.
