Comments (10) | Add a comment
Initiative aims to lift Nevada mining tax cap
Tools
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
CARSON CITY -- A conservative businessman filed a proposed constitutional amendment Tuesday to raise the cap on Nevada mining taxes to 9 percent of net proceeds, up from 5 percent, in the first of two or three expected tax proposals that could end up on the November ballot.
The initiative filed by Monte Miller said the measure itself doesn't require the mining tax to be raised but would allow the Legislature to increase the rate that has limited taxes paid on minerals since Nevada's statehood.
Miller is on the board of the Keystone Corp., a conservative, pro-business group that opposes business taxes and does not support Miller's effort.
"This is Monte Miller," he said.
Miller also is on the board of directors of the Nevada Taxpayers Association, which had no immediate position on the initiative.
Taxes paid by mining companies on minerals are limited by the Nevada Constitution to 5 percent of net proceeds, and amounts are calculated after deductions for the cost of extraction and other business expenses.
"This is about fairness," Miller said by telephone. "I think the 5 percent is a 20th century cap. This is about mining being at the table."
Tim Crowley, president of the Nevada Mining Association, said the industry has stepped up to the plate in years past.
He said mining supported the modified business tax approved in 2002 that all businesses, including mining, pays and supported higher sales and payroll taxes approved in 2009.
Last session, the industry agreed to eliminate some deductions from the net proceeds tax, amounting to $24 million a year. "Perhaps he forgets these things because he was not present and did not participate in those discussions and resolutions," Crowley said.
Miller's initiative would need more than 72,000 signatures to be placed on the ballot. Voters would have to approve it in November and again in 2014 for it to take effect.
The move comes as a union-backed effort is under way for an initiative to create a business tax in Nevada. That measure, being organized by a coalition led by Nevada AFL-CIO secretary-treasurer Danny Thompson, has not yet been filed with the secretary of state but is being modeled after a proposed margins tax on businesses pushed by Democrats in the 2011 session that failed to gather any Republican support needed for passage .
Miller said he plans another initiative to raise casino taxes. "That's coming," he said.
Comments
Terms & Conditions
The following comments are provided by readers and are the sole responsiblity of the authors. The Review-Journal does not review comments before publication nor guarantee their accuracy. By publishing a comment here you agree to abide by the comment policy. If you see a comment that violates the policy, please use the Report Abuse button.
Some comments may not display immediately due to an automatic filter. These comments will be reviewed within 24 hours. Please do not submit a comment more than once.
Note: Comments made by reporters and editors of the Las Vegas Review-Journal are presented with a yellow background.
RSS
Twitter
Facebook
What are you people thinking!? Adding a tax to mining is a good way to destroy the economy. Nearly everything around you comes from a mine, all the way from the glass in my laptop to the dye in my clothes, and the copper in the wires that bring the Internet to me to read this insanity, the car I drive and the sidewalk I walk on, and the drywall in my house. Mining is the primary source of raw materials that makes everything in America move, and everything in America that moves. Adding just a few pennies to the cost of raw materials has a devastating ripple effect that picks up momentum at every handling step. By the time it gets to the salt on my table, it is likely to be more than 10 times the value of the tax added to the source. This is not about big government, it is about increasing the prices of raw materials that nearly everything around us is made from, and all of the jobs of the people that make or handle these products. No wonder why production of goods, the thing that made America what is is today is all leaving the country and we are forced to buy products from foreign countries...
Raising the cap will do nothing to address the deductions that only the mining company enjoys. Until those generous deductions are reassessed the mining companies will continue to steal from Nevadans.
Let's get this on the ballot, great job Miller!!!
Higher mining taxes will buy us one thing: BIGGER government.
Unless you think maybe the government will REBATE the extra money to us.
Why not let them pay 5% of their gross like the Casinos do with the gaming tax? After they deduct all the expenses they can find they are paying very, very little.
Is the argument that mining taxes are too high?? Is 1% or 2% really too high?? Why don't we just pay them to pull these resources out of this state....lol
"The initiative filed Tuesday by Monte Miller says the measure itself doesn't require the tax to be raised, but would allow the Legislature to increase the rate.."
Puh-leeze. They wouldn't be able to control themselves. They'd call a special session just to raise that tax and that still wouldn't be enough money for them.
One again....nevada is the argument FOR bigger government....we are last in virtually every meaningful category because we have such a small government....we are the small government failed experiment.....why do libertarians hate scientific evidence???
Once again, the BIG Government conservatives are pushing for .. what else? MORE government.
The mining industry always responds with defensive, mealy-mouthed statements of opposition, pointing out how many jobs the industry provides in this state, how much it invests in the rural counties, and suggesting that the Legislature should look at other sources of revenue.
That is to say, the mining industry supports BIG Government too. It just wants somebodt else to pay for it.
The industry should go on the OFFENSIVE by pointing out that government is already TOO BIG.
That *existing* mining taxes are quite sufficient to fund *small* government.
That a small government was the sort of institution originally envisioned by the state constitution.
That *modest* mining taxes were seen then (and would, in fact, *still* be) all that would be required to fund it.
How about also raising the "LOWEST GAMING TAX IN THE WORLD AT 6 3/4%". Nevada Gaming tax hasn't been raised in -14- years!!! Lobbyist and Casino Owned Harry Reid have seen to that not happening !!!