Australia PM Gillard To Offer Miners Deal This Week - Report

27th Jun 2010 22:45

SYDNEY (Dow Jones)--The Australian government under new prime minister Julia Gillard plans to announce changes to the proposed resource super profits tax this week, according to a report Monday in the Sydney Morning Herald. The paper says the government will seek to quickly tackle problems that had led to a dramatic decline in the government's standing in opinion polls leading up to Kevin Rudd's replacement as prime minister last week, including the contentious mining tax, as well as immigration and climate change issues. The paper says, without naming its sources, that the changes to the tax will largely resemble those that Rudd had been due to announce Friday. It says the rate of profit at which the tax would be levied will increase to 11% from 6%, the government will drop exploration rebates and taxpayer-funded write-offs for failed ventures, and it will change the point during the production process at which the tax comes into effect. The report says extra work was done over the weekend on transitional proposals it is hoped will placate the big mining companies. The Australian Financial Review, meanwhile, says the government will offer bigger concessions on the tax but leave a final decision until after the coming federal election. Gillard is also expected to announce her new cabinet later Monday, the report says. Newspaper websites: http://www.smh.com.au http://www.afr.com -By Sydney bureau; 61-2-8272-4680; [email protected] (END) Dow Jones Newswires June 27, 2010 17:45 ET (21:45 GMT)