The Australian Greens will press the federal government to include gold in its proposed "watered-down" mining tax at next week's national tax forum.
Research conducted for the Greens found that adding the planned minerals resource rent tax (MRRT) to gold would raise a further $1.8 billion in government revenue over the next decade.
The Greens have for some time argued for a return to the government's original 40 per cent resource super profits tax (RSPT), which covered all resources.
Greens Leader Bob Brown said the RSPT would have given Australians a fairer return on their nation's mineral wealth, which could be set aside in a sovereign wealth fund for major projects such as high-speed-rail infrastructure.
"The Greens recommend adding gold as a first step," Senator Brown said in statement on Wednesday.
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He said adding gold to the MRRT, another resource whose extraction is dominated by foreign-owned companies, would unlock $1.8 billion over 10 years that could go towards funding smaller-scale projects.
These would include bikeway networks in towns and cities, and the restoration of federal funding to Australia's iconic cultural institutions.
"Expanding the mining tax to include gold is a key item the Greens will take to next week's tax forum," Senator Brown said.
"Both the IMF and the OECD have criticised the restriction of the MRRT to iron ore and coal, and this new report shows there is no justification for excluding gold."
The research says gold is currently showing many characteristics which iron ore and coal have displayed over recent years, making it a suitable candidate for the MRRT system.
The gold price is on a sustained upwards trajectory, reacting to ongoing global anxiety, and market experts do not believe it is in a price bubble, it says.
The controversial RSPT was dumped last year when Prime Minister Julia Gillard rolled former Labor leader Kevin Rudd and negotiated instead a 30 per cent MRRT with three mining giants - BHP Billiton, Rio Tinto and Xstrata.
The Greens argue the watered-down MRRT will mean a $100 billion loss of revenue over the next 10 years.
"(Opposition Leader) Tony Abbott's plan would lose up to $140 billion by levying no tax at all," Senator Brown's website says.
The Greens also want to ditch the one per cent corporate tax cut for big business that revenue from the MRRT will pay for, while slashing the small-business tax rate to 25 per cent from 30 per cent currently.
The federal government's tax forum will be held in Canberra on October 4 and 5.
