If the example of mining companies in Nevada catches on, it could give the industry a bad name. Miners could become known as a soft touch, if not a little soft in the head.
Mining has been booming in Nevada, but we didn’t realize just how good these good times are for miners in the golden state. Then we learned that mining companies in Nevada volunteered to pay additional taxes — and pay them ahead of time. Things must be very, very good in Nevada. The mine operators prepaid $10 million in additional taxes based on the net proceeds of their mineral sales. The tax, payable by all profitable mines, will help the state survive its current “monetary shortfall” — a budget deficit in 1987 — says the Nevada Mining Association.
While everyone else in Nevada has been cashing in on the recent gold boom, the state government, it seems, was going broke. Late last year the “accelerated prepayment,” as it’s called, was passed by the state legislature with the support of the Nevada mining industry. The money will go to the state government in addition to the regular payment of a net proceeds tax which goes to the counties where mines are in operation.
The mining association says it shows that the mining industry “will always pay its fair share of taxes in Nevada.”
Fair enough. But volunteering? That’s like handing back part of your pay cheque and telling your boss you don’t really need that much. We just hope our legislatures here in Canada don’t hear about this. It could give them some budget-balancing ideas that the industry could do without.
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