Australian gas is booming. But who benefits?

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As horrific as the sudden jump in oil and gas prices has been, the bright side ought to be a sudden jump in the money flowing into the hands of the nations lucky enough to produce it. Australia exports more gas, more liquefied natural gas, than just about any nation on Earth. We account for one-fifth of the gas exported globally. Yet what the government gets in tax from that gas, what it charges for the gas, isn't even beer money. The government is set to collect $2.7 billion from the excise on beer this year, only $1.5 billion from the petroleum resource rent tax on gas, and Australian customers can't always get that gas. Importers are planning to import some of it back.