Joe Hockey (North Sydney, Liberal Party, Treasurer) Share this | Hansard source

It is a very good question from the member for Hasluck because the mining tax is a burden on the people of Western Australia, as it is on all Australians. The mining tax is a budget disaster.

Imagine introducing a tax that hardly raises any money, but then you go and spend all this money against a fictional revenue stream. That is exactly what the Labor Party did. It was originally to raise nearly $50 billion so they went on a spending spree against money that they never collected. In total, the tax raised $400 million—just $400 million. Fewer than 20 taxpayers have paid that $400 million. Around 145 other miners have been required to submit all the paperwork associated with the tax.

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