A bill that revises a gold tax failed on a reconsideration Thursday in the State Senate. Senate Bill 162 revises the amount of severance tax gold mining companies must pay when the price of gold reaches a certain level. Opponents say giving breaks to big businesses only erodes the general fund and makes it difficult to prioritize. Senator Deb Peters called for reconsideration. She says legislators need to be mindful of singling out companies.
“I do highly believe that we the resources and the programming for this one company without changing current tax policy. And that’s the danger is changing tax policy relating to one business. That is something I don’t believe is good policy, and I do believe if this one individual in this one business needs assistance to get through one rough patch, we have things available,” Peters says.
Supporters of Senate Bill 162 are concerned with the decreasing price of gold and strain on gold mining companies. They say the gold industry benefits the entire state, and legislators have the ability to change the tax policy again in the future. The bill lost 15 to 19.