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Thursday, May 26, 2011 | 9:10 p.m.
Sun Archives
Sun Coverage
The state’s teachers union isn’t satisfied with walking out of the Legislature with just extending taxes — $712 million — set to expire next month.
Gary Peck, executive director of the Nevada State Education Association, said “the sunsets are not enough.”
Assembly Speaker John Oceguera, D-Las Vegas, said the sunsetting taxes were the best they could get from Republicans right now.
Peck said the Legislature should go back to its plan to raise $1.2 billion in extending the sunsets and instituting a sales tax on services and the margin tax. That tax plan won no support from Republican lawmakers, who would be necessary to pass any tax.
“It’s unfortunate that the Legislature seems unwilling and unable to stand up to governor and do what’s right,” Peck said.
Lynn Warne, president of the Nevada State Education Association, said the union would still look to put a tax on the ballot if all it got were extending the existing taxes.
Most of the money, Peck said, would be eaten up by replacing budget gimmicks and transfers from school district accounts now in question because of a Supreme Court ruling.
At a minimum, he said, Democrats should consider its proposal to raise $1.2 billion in taxes, which included $500 million above the sunsets.
Contact your legislator at 1-800-978-2878 and demand that the tax breaks for foreign mining corporations, which are paid for by taxes from Nevada's working families, be ended so that those citizens from Europe and Canada can start to pay SOME of the taxes they owe for doing business in this state! The taxes paid by Nevada's working families should be for services for Nevada's working families, not for foreign corporations as the Republicans in the legislature would like it! Nevada's small businesses pay taxes-its time for foreign companies to do the same!
The issue was highlighted in a recent power point presentation at the Barrick Mining annual meeting. One of the mines highlighted in the power point was the Cortez Hills Mine in Northern Nevada. According to the power point, in 2010, the mine produced 114,000,000 ounces of gold (over 35 TONS) at a production cost of $312 per ounce. During the first quarter of 2011, the mine produced 366,000 ounces (over 11 TONS) of gold at a production cost of $220 per ounce. If you project a sale price of $1000 over cost of production,that results in a profit of over $1,500,000,000. Based on what the mining industry paid in taxes in 2009, the tax payment to the state of Nevada will probably be less that 50 MILLION. The power point goes on to point out that the projected production from Cortez Hills for 2011 will be between 1.30 to 1.45 MILLION ounces (40-45 TONS)at a production cost of $235-245 per ounce. This is natural resource that should provide significant benefits to the citizens of Nevada. Unless the Legislature acts quickly, another two years will pass without any significant action to change the tax structure of the state.
http://media.lasvegassun.com/media/pdfs/...
give me give me I want I want I'm entitled to it everyone else owes me
Tax someone else and give it to me
"give me give me" is the swan song of the mine owners. They take the gold out of the ground, pay themselves every last penny possible, and claim there is no taxable profit left to pay the people of Nevada for renting the land. they live rent free.
A person who pays rent on a slouch-bag two bedroom apartment pays more rent to the apartment owner then the renters of the NewMont Carlin Mine paid to the State. Newmont paid zero taxes (rent) on $360 million gross income last year. Try deducting personal operating expenses from the rent payments. People have no protection.
Any school budget should begin by looking at the money needed to buy books and other supplies. Only after those needs have been fully funded should they look at salaries.
The problems with CCSD and Nevada education in general will *not* be solved by giving educators (administrators in particular) higher pay. There is a systemic problem when teachers and parents must buy basic supplies themselves.
I feel that public education is a proper function of government, but I expect and demand that my tax money goes to serve the students first!
And the teachers union thugs were elected to what position and by whom?
When education has been UNDERFUNDED for decades in a stingy, mingy state, yes you can say that billions of dollars have been spent on substandard education and that it is a huge portion of the budget. However, if you put regular gas in a high performance vehicle, don't bitch that you have to replace the carburetor all the time. You get what you pay for and we have paid for substandard education.
I wish all the truly gifted young teachers out there a happy and long lived career teaching in states that appreciate them.
Of coaurse they want more monney to line their pockets. They just spent all that money stopping reforms so teachers could be kept on merit rather than seniority. Gotta get that money back somehow right.