43 PETROLEUM AND MINERAL RESOURCE RENT TAXES: COULD THESE TAXATION PRINCIPLES HAVE A WIDER APPLICATION? JOHN MCLAREN  The Australian Government introduced a Petroleum Resource Rent Tax (PRRT) on offshore oil and gas deposits in 1984 and since then it has raised in excess of an additional $1 billion a year in revenue over and above the normal company tax on income. The Australian Government has introduced a Mineral Resource Rent Tax (MRRT) on iron ore, coal and gas from coal seams effective from 1 July 2012. The MRRT has been met with criticism from certain mining companies and noted economists. However, Australia currently has a budget deficit and an MRRT is being viewed by the government as a possible solution to balancing the budget. A Resource Rent Tax (RRT) has been used by a number of countries such as the United Kingdom and Norway to increase government revenue from their ‘North Sea’ oil reserves. It would appear that this type of tax has a number of desirable attributes, especially in relation to efficiency. Is it now time for governments to consider a wider application of a rent tax to other industries and resources? A ‘rent tax’ being a tax on land is now an accepted form of taxation in many western economies such as Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom. There are a number of businesses such as the airline industry, the fishing industry, the Australian funeral industry and the timber industry that generate an economic rent due to their dominance in a particular business sector. This paper examines a number of those industries and contends that, due to the super profits being generated by these businesses, governments should consider the imposition of a rent tax. I INTRODUCTION The purpose of this paper is to explore the potential for governments throughout the world to raise revenue through the imposition of a ‘rent tax’ not only on land and non- renewable mineral resources but also other resources such as timber, water, fish, hydro-electricity, geothermal electricity and industries such as airports, toll-roads and airlines. Part III of this paper will briefly describe the way in which the MRRT and the PRRT work in imposing a tax on the ‘super’ profit from mining. However, prior to this examination, Part II of the paper will discuss the general concept of a ‘rent tax’  LLB (Tas), MBA (Mon), LLM (Mon), PhD (RMIT); Assistant Professor, Faculty of Law, University of Canberra, Australia.