In a move that has implications for the Government's funding of its superannuation policy initiatives, the Federal Opposition and the Greens have succeeded in having the Senate order the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) to reveal how much money is being raised by the Minerals Resource Rent Tax (MRRT).
The Shadow Assistant Treasurer, Senator Mathias Cormann, announced the Senate order late yesterday, saying the Commissioner for Taxation had been asked to provide detail of how much money the tax had raised since 1 July last year.
"The Government's suggestion that this information is secret on taxpayer confidentiality grounds is farcical and unacceptable," Cormann said. "We expect the Tax Commissioner to comply with the order of the Senate. As the Government has said on repeated occasions, the ATO is independent."
Revenue raised via the MRRT is seen as central to the delivery of a number of Government policy initiatives and the Coalition is suggesting that while it was originally intended to deliver around $4 billion, it is now likely to be generating less than the $2 billion forecast in the Mid-Year Economic and Fiscal Outlook.
