Rehabilitation of mining sites: do taxation and accounting systems legitimise the privileged or serve the community?

Abstract This paper explores both accounting standards and the taxation provisions with respect to the treatment of rehabilitation costs of mining entities in Australia. A special tax deduction is allowed only for expenditure actually incurred, yet the accounting standard provides a different calculative practice for the representation of the same event. With this example we demonstrate inconsistencies that exist between accounting and tax and although the accounting for income taxes standard accounts for the differences, we argue this merely legitimatises them. We challenge this false consciousness that assumes these inconsistencies are merely incidental and point out that these two systems, of tax and accounting, implicitly sustain and reinforce each other. These institutional practices perpetuate the privileges, powers and impact of the mining industry, whilst claiming to serve the community as a whole.