Mining tax before Nevada voters
By Sandra Chereb, Las Vegas Review-Journal
CARSON CITY — Nevada voters will decide next month whether to give lawmakers the power to raise mining taxes — a revenue source long decried by critics as an under-tapped funding spigot shielded by the state Constitution.
Whether or not passage of Question 2 will lead to more taxes on gold, silver and other minerals remains to be seen. But if history is any indication, lawmakers will seek to capitalize on the new tool in the budget box, should the measure pass, and again turn their eye toward all that glitters to boost state coffers.
State Sen. Tick Segerblom concedes that raising mining levies is the ultimate goal.
“It’s the first time in 150 years that the Legislature will actually have a chance to raise taxes on mining,” said the Las Vegas Democrat. “That is, in my perspective, incredibly significant.
“We’ve finally gotten rid of that stone around our neck.”
Question 2 is the last step in a process that began three years ago to purge a cap on net mining proceeds from the constitution.