The new MRRT might not be so bad after all...

In Resources tax: what you may not know ... Ian Verrender suggests that even with the new Mining Resources Rent Tax Australia is a relatively low tax environment for the mining industry.

Despite all the hullabaloo, all the hand-wringing and the wailing from various sections of the mining industry, the passage of the Mineral Resources Rent Tax overnight confirms Australia as one of the world's most benign destinations for miners.

That's right. When it comes to taxing resource companies, Australia is a soft touch, a virtual tax haven.

He also writes:

For, almost every country with a resource base, rich and poor, has begun tightening the screws after witnessing in the past decade one of the greatest wealth transfers in history - away from the citizens who owned the minerals and towards the companies exploiting those resources.

It is a global trend that will make it increasingly tougher for the big resource houses to maintain their earnings growth, regardless of whether commodity prices continue to surge as they have done since the turn of the century. More on that later.

 And:

Given the diluted minerals tax is much lighter than proposed new tax regimes in Indonesia and across Africa, it is likely to be a big attraction. Add in a sophisticated and independent legal system, an advanced democracy, modern infrastructure and an open policy on foreign investment, and Australia wins hands down as a place to dig for minerals.