''People in the community see that business is announcing profits in the tens of billions of dollars and there is a perception they're not carrying their fair share,'' said Per Capita executive director David Hetherington, while observing that Australia's corporate tax rate was in fact ''about middling'' compared with similar economies.

About 49 per cent of Australians were opposed to the idea of a mining ''super profits'' tax when it was announced last year, according to an Age/Nielsen poll taken last June. But Per Capita's survey of 1300 people found that opposition to the tax shrank to just 27 per cent at the end of 2010, with 52 per cent supporting the tax and 21 per cent unsure.

Support was only likely to have risen since then, according to Mr Hetherington, given the visibility of the negative impacts of the mining boom and a high Australian dollar on parts of the economy.

''The two-speed economy has become more prominent as mining investment has ramped up and sectors like retail, tourism and manufacturing have been hit by a combination of a higher dollar and lower consumer sentiment. Those factors have taken the edge off the debate about the mining tax.''

Support for a mining tax was relatively high in Western Australia (54 per cent) and Queensland (52 per cent) despite being home to most of the mining companies affected. Of those opposed to the tax, a third said it was only because they did not trust the government to use the proceeds responsibly.