but once only, to the current mining tax regime but most have opted for the higher tax rate because it gives more certainty to financial planning. On June 16, 2005, Law 20.026 was published in Chile's Official Gazette (Diario Oficial). The Law establishes a specific tax on mining activities, which came in force on January 1, 2006 consisting of a sliding scale according to copper production from nothing below 12,000 tonnes p.a. to 5% above 50,000 tonnes p.a. on production in excess of 12,000 tonnes p.a. Foreign companies that signed a DL 600 contract before Dec 1 2004 and are still liable to 42% tax are not affected by this. Companies bringing in US$50 million or more now can be granted invariability of mining taxation but must pay normal income tax. They must also submit their annual financial statements to external audit and to the Securities and Insurance Supervisor as well as their quarterly statements and an annual report on the property. Mining companies are generally granted concessions to allow them to recoup their initial capital expenditures because of the risky nature of mining. The most important of these in Chilean law are organisation and startup expenses, interest expense, technical assistance, tax losses and asset depreciation, which may be accelerated. This gives rise to a long initial tax free period and the suspicion that they are avoiding tax. See also Nationalization Economic history of Chile Chile under Allende Chile under Pinochet Miracle of Chile Codelco References Economic history of Chile Politics of Chile History of the foreign relations of Chile Chile Presidency of Salvador Allende History of mining in Chile Nationalization 1969 in economics 1971 in economics