Australia’s resources sector delivered AU$63.8 billion in royalties and company tax during the 2023–24 financial year, remaining well above historical averages despite dropping from the previous year’s record highs.
According to a report prepared by EY-Parthenon for the Minerals Council of Australia (MCA), combined payments fell by AU$10 billion from the AU$73.8 billion recorded in 2022–23.
The total for 2023–24 comprised AU$36.9 billion in net company tax and $26.9 billion in state and territory royalties.
The report attributes the revenue decline to a 13.4 per cent drop in overall commodity prices, driven largely by falling thermal and metallurgical coal prices, coupled with rising operating costs that squeezed profit margins.
Despite the moderation, mining remains the nation’s single largest corporate taxpayer, generating more than a quarter of all Australian company tax in 2023–24 and 38.5 per cent of all tax paid by large and international businesses. Over the past decade, the sector has injected $432 billion directly into public coffers via company tax and royalties.
Minerals Council of Australia CEO Tania Constable noted that these contributions directly underpin public finances across the nation.
“Mining is Australia’s largest taxpayer by industry,” Constable said.
“This helps to pay for education, health, police, transport and other vital services and infrastructure for all Australians.”
EY-Parthenon forecasts that combined tax and royalty payments will ease further in 2024–25 to an estimated $48.9 billion as commodity prices continue to normalise.
However, net company tax collections for the period are still projected to remain more than five times higher than those recorded a decade ago in 2015–16.
State royalty receipts also remained elevated relative to historical baselines, supported in part by higher coal royalty rate structures implemented across Queensland and New South Wales in recent years.
