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Wednesday, Jan. 9, 2013 | 6 p.m.
Sheila Leslie
A liberal former legislative leader eviscerated the state’s political system on Wednesday, saying it is ruled by “oligarchs” and arguing that the state’s corporate, gambling and mining interests need to pay more in taxes.
In what was billed as a progressive State of the State ahead of Republican Gov. Brian Sandoval’s speech next week, former state Sen. Sheila Leslie called on the public to finance campaigns, saying even her fellow left-leaning lawmakers “turn a blind eye” to the influence of campaign contributions.
Leslie said the state’s powerful interests use contributions to protect their economic interests, leaving the poor to pay a disproportionate share of state taxes.
“If Nevada taxed mining, corporations, and wealthy interests as much as we do the poor, we could build the best schools, community colleges and universities in the country,” she said, according to prepared remarks. “Nevada does not have a resource or a money problem. We are a wealthy state.”
Leslie, a Democrat from Reno who served in the Assembly for 10 years before moving up to the Senate, narrowly lost her election in November to Republican Sen. Greg Brower.
Her speech from Las Vegas was on behalf of the Progressive Leadership Alliance of Nevada, a coalition of progressive groups.
Both houses of the Nevada Legislature are controlled by Democrats, but that doesn’t mean they’re progressive.
On the issue of taxation, Democratic leaders have declined to commit to trying to raise revenue. Indeed, in an education plan released Wednesday morning, Democratic lawmakers talked about expanding all-day kindergarten and preschool education, but did not discuss how to pay for it.
Leslie, by contrast, called for Sandoval and legislators “to stand up to some of the most powerful corporations in the world and tell them to pay their fair share.”
Sandoval is scheduled to give his State of the State speech on Wednesday in Carson City, as well as release his budget for the next two years. He has committed to extending all or some of $620 million in taxes that would otherwise “sunset” later this year in order to prevent cuts to education and social services.
But he also said earlier this week he would veto any tax to raise additional money, arguing that the state’s economy is still recovering.
Leslie said existing taxes aren’t enough.
“Extending the infamous sunset taxes... is no mark of valor,” she said. “It’s the path of least resistance that won’t amount to a drop in the bucket considering how far down Nevada has slumped.”
She said Nevada poor pay 10 percent of their income in taxes, while the rich pay 1.5 percent.
She said Nevada should tax gold mining at 20 percent, like Wyoming does, and put a “nominal” tax on corporate profits.
“If these things happened, we could build a first-class educational system, from pre-K through post-graduate,” she said.
She called on lawmakers to start the process of repealing the same-sex marriage ban in the state’s constitution.
She said “the oligarchs who benefit from the system that makes them rich use large campaign contributions, laundered through ever-increasing and creative political action committees to create even greater political muscle to protect their economic might.
“Corporate contributors later demand tax perks, lax oversight and special interest legislation as the price of their support.”
She said if campaign contributions were divorced from politics, “more lawmakers would make decisions based on the long-term health of our state.”
Mufugly. Maybe the state should institute an income tax so we ALL will pay our "fair share."....
Go, Leslie! I hope I have an opportunity to vote for you.
Finally, somebody said the t-word.
The 2011 Barrick Mining annual report is out. This is a link to the Barrick Annual Report for 2011.
http://www.barrick.com/theme/barrick/fil........................
Barrick Mining either owns outright, or is a partner in a joint venture in 7 gold mines in Nevada. To determine my estimate a profits for 2011, I assumed the price of gold at $1500 per ounce, or less. The current price for gold is in excess of $1750 per ounce. The first four mines listed are totally owned by Barrick Mining. In 2011, according to their own figures, Barrick Mining produced almost 97 TONS of gold from their Nevada Mines. That is same weight as 16 full size, original HUMMERS. Barrick Mining has reported record profits and dividends in both 2010 and 2011. Barrick paid a total of $47,300,000 in local and state taxes last year.
The Cortez Hills Mine produced 1.42 Million (44.375 tons) ounces of Gold at a cost of $245 per ounce. If you assume a conservative profit of $1000 per ounce, you get a profit for the Cortez Hill mine of $1,420,000,000.
Bald Mountain Mine produced 93,000 ounces (2.9 tons) at a cost of $558 per ounce. Assuming a profit of $900 per ounce for the Bald Mountain Mine, you get a profit of $83,700,000.
The Gold Strike mine produced 1.09 MILLION ounces (34.0625 Tons) at a cost of $511 per ounce. Again assuming a profit of $900 per ounce for the Gold Strike mine, you get a profit of $981,000,000.
Ruby Hill mine produced 127,000 ounces (3.96875 tons) at a cost of $334 per ounce. Assuming a profit of $1000 per ounce for Ruby Hill, you get a profit of $127,000,000.
Barrick Mining is involved in three joint ventures in Nevada.
Barrick owns 33% of the Marigold mine. Barrick's share of production was 51,000 ounces (1.59675 Tons) at a cost of $761 per ounce. For the Marigold mine, assume a profit of $700 per ounce. The total profit would be $35,700,000.
Barrick owns 50% of the Round Mountain mine. Barrick's share was 178,000 ounces (5.5625 Tons) at a cost of $612 per ounce. Assuming a profit of $800 per ounce for the Round Mountain mine, we get a total profit of $142,400,000.
Barrick owns 75% of the Turquoise Ridge mine which produced 135,000 ounces (4.21875 Tons) at a cost of $569 per ounce. Finally for the Turquoise Ridge mine, assume a profit of $700 per ounce. This would give a profit of $ 94,500,000.
Barrick is actively exploring in the Carlin Trace in Nevada. The Carlin Trace is one of the richest gold deposts in the world. Barrick's annual report shows that 44% of the companies income comes from North America. Don't forget that Barrick is also mining silver along with the gold in Nevada. If you add all of the projected and conservative profits, the total is $2,884,300,000. The mining industry in Nevada is also actively mining silver, copper, lithum and many other minerals.
Ms. Leslie is correct in her point that the casinos and mning industry need to pay more taxes. They both have had it easy when the tax burden is put onto the rest of Nevada.
What I don't get is where does the repeal of same sex marriges fit into to incresing taxes on mining and the casino industry.
Ms. Leslie has identified where the problem exist,but fails to explain how to get these corporations to pay their fair share. The Republicants will prevent any tax hikes on these corporations and continue with the corporate welfare they love, after all where do they get their campaign financing from.
Corporate welfare in Nevada is the main reason we are in a financial crunch. All of the tax relief benefits granted to big business is what is draining our finances. The tax lost alone on STAR bonds would have prevented a lot of the financial problems. Republicants will not talk about that though, and tell you about how many jobs have come to the State, but not tell you how many starvation wages jobs they have brought to the State. Republicants will continue to complain about welfare cost and and medical cost for the people that take these jobs. All a result of their poor judgement.