The Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ACCI) says any significant new tax burden on industry, especially a sector from which a number of other businesses depend on for survival, gets passed through the economy.
"That will occur with this resources tax in the same way that we have said it will occur with the proposed introduction by the federal coalition of its levy to fund parental leave," the chamber's chief executive Peter Anderson told reporters in Canberra on Friday.
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"These taxes are paid for by the economy more broadly; they are not confined to just one industry sector."
Mr. Anderson said he was disappointed the government had chosen not to decouple small business tax relief from the proposed mining tax.
Small business will benefit from an early cut - from 30 per cent to 28 per cent - to the corporate tax rate.
"The resource super tax is not a basis for trading off relief for small businesses," Mr Anderson said.
"We do not want a situation where small business tax relief becomes a political football in what is a game between the government and the resources industry."
This follows BHP Billiton's vice president of government relations, Bernie Delaney, and senior company tax specialists meeting at the Treasury building in Canberra.
Australia's biggest miner has previously voiced concern about the federal government's proposed 40 per cent resource rent tax.
