Here’s today’s Power Shots from Paul Barry and The Power Index team, covering the latest news of Australia’s most powerful. Missed yesterday’s Power Shots? Check them out here, as well as heading yourself over to the freshly launched stable-mate of Crikey, The Power Index.

Mitch Hook’s anti-tax campaign a waste. Advertising gurus say the Minerals Council of Australia’s decision to splurge on a new anti-carbon tax campaign is a waste of money. MCA chief executive Mitch Hooke has written to members telling them they will be invoiced the equivalent of half their annual membership fees to fund a new film and TV campaign. The Australian Financial Review today estimated the total ad spend at $100,000 to $200,000. “It seems to be a waste of time, energy and money,” Grey Group chairman Paul Gardner told The Power Index. “The government has made it perfectly clear that they are going to introduce a carbon tax. I can’t see the point of any third party doing a pro or anti campaign … The horse has bolted here.” — Matthew Knott (read the rest here)

It’s a creative business world after all. Business leaders are more famous for financially propping up cultural institutions rather than making their own works of art, but a new corporate-inspired art project in Melbourne aims to change all that. The Mind Gallery is promoting The Art of Business Exhibition, a collection of more than 70 “gallery standard artworks” by Australian corporations and the leadership teams who run them. A spokesperson for the event told The Power Index the collection will display work from the past 10 years of their “artistic team building” program — many of which have been collected from the boardrooms and reception areas of corporate headquarters across the country. — Angela Priestley (read the rest here)

Buffett latest to call for more giving. US billionaire investor Warren Buffett has called on America’s “mega-rich” to pay more in taxes for the good of the country.
In a New York Times opinion piece published overnight, Buffett called for households with a taxable income of more than $1 million to pay more tax. Those who earn $10 million or more should face an even larger tax hike, he wrote. It’s a pledge that would make local entrepreneur and former Australia of the Year, Dick Smith, proud — if only Buffett were Australian. — Matthew Knott (read the rest here)