Recovering costs of administrating speculation?

Government costs recovery of administrative expense incurred managing mineral exploration was originally intended in "The Act" to be recovered from later and profitable mining operations!!   It's called "Taxation".

Exploration was (and is) intended to be as cost free as possible and even subsidized in qualified cases. Exploration is people going out on a limb for the benefit of the community.

Taxing a "loss leading" altruism such as prospecting is like taking food from your dog instead of feeding it. As a government employee, your need is to understand how this proposal is a backward, dysfunctional idea. The Mines Act Permit Fee proposal itself suggests the perspective of government is that the prospector is a sort of Wall St. Executive who is effectively more powerful than the state. Such jealousy of the populace which government serves is a systemic failure leading to the bureaucratic blindness extant in this proposal.

Pre-loading expenses for exploration in mining is effectively a speculation tax, when the speculation itself is in the government's favour.

The entire precept of 'cost recovery' is thus equated to eating the seeds needed to plant the next crop. Leave those dollars in the hands of the prospector who intends to spend them looking for the resources which enrich our society.

#3: Bucove -

Please remember!!
Activate the petition response email by clicking on the signature confirmation link!! Your vote MUST be counted!!