The 100,000 hectares of MIS plantations cost the Australian Taxpayer in foregone tax approximately $400 million dollars, a figure arrived at using 100,000 hectares at $8,000 per hectare less a 50% tax deduction.
Senator Abetz, formerly the Minister of Forests, whose Liberal Party received $50,000 from Gunns three weeks after he was made Minister of Forests, was the greatest promoter of this scam which has now resulted in a gift to a foreign corporation by the Australian taxpayer of the tax deductible half of the cost of plantation production.
Based on the above, I suggest Gunns 200,000 hectares of Blue Gums and Nitens now have a real time valuation of $700 million, yet Gunns net tangible assets stand in their books at $2.4 billion with little or no write down from the last financial year.
