Australia taxes its massive gas exports so weakly that we pay more on Hecs than companies do on PRRT

‘The problem is the PRRT is a tax lawyers’ picnic – gas companies can use costs to defray their liabilities for as long as they like.’ Photograph: Bloomberg/Getty Images

In Hollywood everyone knows never to ask for a percentage of the film profits. These so-called “monkey points” are the stuff of legends and mirth. Anyone silly enough to demand a slice of profits will be waiting by the letterbox for a cheque that will never come. Famously Forrest Gump never turned a profit, which is quite the achievement for a film that cost $55m to make and earned $678m worldwide.

Given how we tax our gas industry, you get the feeling our gas companies love the way Hollywood does business, and the government has not worked out that they’re the silly ones waiting for a cheque that will never arrive.