Coping with Australia's Two Economies

摘要

Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd faced off against the mining compa-nies-and lost. In May, Rudd, a Labor Party PM, proposed a 40 percent tax on mining income to slow the industry's runaway growth in Australia, the world's largest exporter of coal and iron ore. Rudd also wanted tax cuts for non-mining companies in an effort to redistribute profits and rebalance growth in the economy. What he got was a bitter battle between the Australians who benefit from the mining boom and those who don't.