US drafting rules to plug coal royalty loophole
Washington
THE US government is drafting rules designed to close an accounting loophole that in recent years has helped coal companies boost export profits and likely cost taxpayers tens of millions of dollars, people familiar with the plan said.
American taxpayers by law are due a 12.5 per cent royalty on the sales of millions of tonnes of coal pulled each year from federal land that mining companies lease. But a Reuters investigation found in 2012 that coal companies were using affiliated brokers to settle royalty payments on exports to Asia at much lower domestic prices.
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