A stand-off between BHP and China over iron ore doesn’t have Jim Chalmers and Treasury racing to overhaul the federal budget – yet.

The impasse between the Big Australian and the China Mineral Resources Group has prompted some concerns that one of the budget’s biggest cash cows, resource company tax receipts, is about to be put out to pasture.

It’s a legitimate concern, given just how important tax collections from the resource sector are to the health of the budget. Figures released this week showed the sector delivered $48.5 billion of the $95.7 billion in company tax paid by large businesses in the 2023-24 financial year.

Of that $48.1 billion, BHP paid more than $8 billion.

But if the world’s investors are worried the impasse is going to lead to financial disaster for BHP or iron o

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