Originally published by the West Australian
28.06.2026
WA’s miners and fuel producers pull more than 50 times their weight when it comes to paying tax, according to a key lobby group for the sector.
The Chamber of Minerals and Energy WA has trumpeted fresh Australian Taxation Office figures, which revealed that resources companies make up just 0.6 per cent of Australian corporate taxpayers but pay almost one-third of the nation’s company tax bill.
Mining and oil and gas firms paid $47.3 billion in net company tax in for the 2024 financial year — the most recent tax data period provided by the ATO.
The 8073 businesses in the resources sector captured by the data paid more company tax than the one million businesses operating across agriculture, hospitality, retail, construction, real estate, professional services, health care, transport, education, telecommunications and the arts.
CME WA chief executive officer Aaron Morey said the figures released by the ATO confirmed the resources sector’s “vast and outsized contribution” to the national balance sheet.
“The evidence is unequivocal: the resources sector is the biggest corporate taxpayer in Australia by the length of the Super Pit,” Mr Morey said.
“Mining royalties get a lot of headlines but resources companies are also shovelling company tax to Canberra at a furious rate.”
“The average Australian resources company pays 79 times more company tax than non-mining companies.”
Chamber of Minerals and Energy WA chief executive Aaron Morey said the sector’s tax contribution had almost quadrupled.
Chamber of Minerals and Energy WA chief executive Aaron Morey said the sector’s tax contribution had almost quadrupled. Credit: Carwyn Monck/The West Australian
Mr Morey said the sector’s tax contribution almost quadrupled over the past decade.
“The latest ATO data shows the Commonwealth collected nearly $130 million in company tax from resources companies every single day in FY2024, money that is vital to pay for essential services like Medicare, the National Disability Insurance Scheme and childcare,” he said.
Yet, the spiralling cost of the NDIS is chewing up virtually all of the taxes and royalties generated by mining operations.
The NDIS is set to cost Federal taxpayers $52b this financial year and $63.6b by the 2029 financial year, according to government estimates, which does not include the additional billions of dollars a year contributed at a State level.
“It has already grown to be the second-largest program in the Budget, only behind the aged pension, and if the current rate of growth continues it is on track to become the largest program in about 10 years,” Australian Taxpayers’ Alliance chief economist John Humphreys said in March.
The latest ATO figures also revealed oil and gas companies alone paid $10.4b in company tax for the 2024 financial year.
“Recent campaigns have sought to mislead Australians by pretending Petroleum Resources Rent Tax is the only tax oil and gas companies pay,” Mr Morey said.
“That is simply wrong. PRRT is one part of a much larger tax contribution that includes company tax, royalties, payroll tax, excise and other State and Federal taxes.
“The ATO’s own figures show oil and gas companies paid $10.4b in company tax alone in 2023-24, which is about seven times the $1.48b paid in PRRT in the same year.
“No one looking honestly at the ATO data could claim the resources sector is not paying its way. Mining and oil and gas companies make up a tiny fraction of Australian company taxpayers but pay almost one third of the nation’s company tax bill.”