Sandoval calls emergency meeting of tax commission to review lax audits of mining companies

By Anjeanette Damon

Monday, March 14, 2011 | 2:18 p.m.

Gov. Brian Sandoval has called an emergency meeting of the Nevada Tax Commission to investigate the taxation department’s failure to audit the substantial tax deductions claimed by mining operators in the past two years.

Sandoval’s senior adviser Dale Erquiaga said today the governor was as surprised as lawmakers when his taxation director admitted during a hearing that he has had no one trained to conduct the audit for the past two years.

“The governor is clearly concerned about the gap in audit procedures,” Erquiaga said.

Sandoval accepted director Dino DiCianno’s immediate retirement a day after the legislative hearing.

Sandoval has ordered a plan be put in place to resume auditing the mining industry. He also has asked the department’s deputy director to prepare a report to the tax commission on the last audits conducted and whether they discovered any deficiencies.

Sandoval has also asked the internal audit division to loan staff members to the tax department and may ask the executive branch audit committee to investigate the department’s management practices.

Erquiaga said he has “no good answer” for why Sandoval was unaware of the staffing problem in the department and described it as a poor management practice by the “past administration.”

DiCianno did not ask for additional auditors in his budget request.

Senate Majority Leader Steven Horsford, D-North Las Vegas, who has been a vocal critic of the lax auditing practices, introduced emergency legislation today to conduct a performance audit of the department, according to the Nevada News Bureau.

Horsford angrily reacted to the news last week and wasn’t satisfied with the removal of DiCianno.

“I appreciate Mr. DiCianno’s recognition of his error, but a changing of the guard is not good enough,” Horsford wrote on Twitter.