The Resource Super Profit Tax (RSPT), which will apply from 1 July 2012, was announced the Sunday before last when the government response to the Henry Report was released.
Government claims the combination of the introduction of the RSPT and the lowering of the company tax rate will give workers on average earnings an extra $450 per annum.

[b]YOURLifeChoices Comment:[/b]
An interesting table was provided showing the proportion of tax to profits for mining companies since 1999. This is the information Mitch Hooke, CEO, Minerals Council of Australia, declined to divulge when interviewed on ABC News Radio last week.
Put simply, the mining companies tax and royalty payments have increased from about $3 billion in 1999 to just over $10 billion in 2009. The profits from mining resources have risen from about $8 billion in 1999 to 90 billion in 2009.
Taxes as a percentage of resources profits have dropped dramatically over this ten-year period.
Put even more simply, Australia has become a giant pit from which we shovel wealth to the benefit of the rest of the world, with negligible profit from processing or tax take at home. The proposed Resource Super Profits Tax is long overdue.