Minerals Resource Rent Tax Repeal and Other Measures Bill 2013 [No. 2]

The majority voted in favour of a motion to agree to the bill.(Read more about the stages a bill must pass through to become law here. ) This means that the majority agree with the bill as it stands and that they can now vote on whether to read it for a third time and therefore pass it in the House.

Background to the bill

The bill was introduced to repeal the minerals resource rent tax ('MRRT'), which the Coalition called the “mining tax”.(You can read more about the MRRT here. ) The tax began 1 July 2012 and applies to profits earned from the extraction of mineral resources such as coal and iron ore. Its abolition was an election promise of the Coalition during the 2013 election campaign.(You can read the Coalition's policy here. )

The bill also repeals the schoolkids bonus, the income support bonus and the low income superannuation contribution.

This is the second time a bill implementing these measures has been introduced. Earlier this year, the Minerals Resource Rent Tax Repeal and Other Measures Bill 2013 was rejected in the Senate.(See that division here.)