The Wire

The Queensland government has joined a high court challenge against the federal government’s mining tax. As the fight heads toward the high court, some mining companies have been revealing that they expect to be hit with only minimal bills, leading to speculation that the government will reap much less than it thought from the tax.

At the core of the debate is a political disagreement over how much mining companies and mining states should be forced to spread the benefits of the boom to less fortunate regions – but the the high court challenge itself is based on a technicality.