(Adds background on royalty bill, mining society)
SANTIAGO, May 9 (Reuters) -
Chile's Senate finance committee voted to advance a new mining royalty bill on Tuesday, a day after the government said it reached a deal with lawmakers to lower the bill's top tax rate on major copper producers. The bill now moves on to the full Senate, where it could be voted on as soon as Wednesday. If approved, it will need to be taken up again in the lower house after the government introduced various changes in the committee.On Monday night, the government had said it reached an agreement with senators to cut the top tax rate to 46.5% from 47% for companies that produce over 80,000 tonnes of fine copper a year, and 45.5% for those that produce between 50,000 and 80,000 tonnes.
The bill had initially proposed a ceiling of 50%, but
this was brought down repeatedly amid legislative debate and
criticism from the mining industry.
The bill is part of the government's wider plan to
overhaul the country's tax system, a key part of which was
shelved by Congress in March
, by leftist President Gabriel Boric.
The royalty bill also establishes a 1% ad valorem tax on
copper sales from companies whose sales exceed 50,000 tonnes of
fine copper, as well as a tax ranging from 8% to 26%, depending
on the miner's operating margin.
Chile's National Mining Society, known by its Spanish initials Sonami, issued a statement Tuesday saying that even with the adjustments to the original proposal, the bill's total tax burden for the sector remains higher than in competing countries.
(Reporting by Alexander Villegas, Natalia Ramos and Brendan O'Boyle; Writing by Sarah Morland; Editing by Chris Reese and David Gregorio)
