Maybe we do need an information campaign

In this case, the ad is the same; only the jingle has been changed. Carol le Roux Wamberal Most overseas tourists arrive through Sydney Airport. Many will arrive during the morning weekday peak and go to catch a train. The chances are it will be a packed doubledecker with barely room for a person to get on, let alone their luggage. For 10 years we have had no purposebuilt, airport luggagefriendly trains. Is it possible the money for the advertising campaigns would have been better spent on improving train services to the airport? Philip Laird KeiravilleDefect in survey of taxes paid by miner Peter Hartcher says the PricewaterhouseCoopers survey of tax paid by the mining industry globally showed it paid only 16.4 per cent in Australia (''Big miners gave Rudd the fight he was looking for'', May 2930). The survey is not an accurate reflection. Rio Tinto, like a number of other miners, did not take part in the survey. Consequently the estimates were made solely from public accounts and are not a measure of actual tax paid in particular jurisdictions. The survey examined corporate income tax only and did not take into account the billions of dollars of royalties paid on minerals. Further, the estimates did not include any corporate taxes or royalties paid by Rio Tinto. The survey assigned companies to jurisdictions based on the location of headquarters. This classified Rio Tinto as a British company, though most of our tax is paid in Australia. No adjustment was made for the size of the eight mining companies in the Australian classification, making estimates unreliable. In spite of these shortcomings, the survey supports the general contention that Rio Tinto and other miners paid their fair share of company tax in 2008. Over the past decade Rio Tinto has paid corporate income tax and royalties in Australia at an effective tax rate of about 35 per cent. David Peever Managing director, Australia, Rio Tinto, Melbourne The comments of the chief executive of Rio Tinto, Tom Albanese, that his company pays its fair share of tax, brings to mind a similar statement Rosetta Stone Korean some years ago to a Senate inquiry by the late Kerry Packer (''Swan dismisses two of miners' main tax demands'', May 31). Fergan O'Sullivan Artarmon It is wrong to characterise the resources super profits tax as an attack on the mining industry. First, it is intended to replace the state royalty system it is not a new tax. Second, royalties now have to be paid irrespective of the profitability of a project. Under the tax a project will not incur a tax liability until it becomes profitable. Third, through the tax, the government, in effect, makes a contribution of 40 per cent to the costs of a mining project. The tax is not arbitrarily slugging mining companies it is an efficient tax that reduces risk and encourages investment. Maybe we do need an information campaign. Bibhu Aggarwal Ryde In letters to the Herald I have never written the words "taxpayer funded" or "my tax dollars". I feel compelled to break tradition after the government announced it would spend almost $40 million of my tax dollars on a taxpayerfunded election campaign. Such advertisements, which Kevin Rudd described less than three years ago as a "cancer on democracy", fail to meet any of the criteria the government imposed on itself. Moreover, I doubt this will be the last "emergency" in which the Treasurer needs to dip his hand into the cookie jar. One can foresee the forecast surplus of $1 billion in 201213 getting smaller and smaller, and further and further away. Todd Kirby Bateau Bay Kevin Rudd can double my taxes, as long as he promises to use it all on public interest advertising to counter the misinformation from the mining industry.

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