Nevada Mining Association sues to block new 5 percent tax

The trade association for Nevada's mining industry says an initiative petition to ask voters to amend the state constitution to include at least a 5 percent tax on gross proceeds of mines, as opposed to the current tax of no more than 5 percent of net proceeds violates "a raft of state and federal constitutional provisions" and filed suit to block it.

The initiative by the Progressive Leadership Alliance of Nevada, or PLAN, seeks to bypass the state's political establishment and asks voters to decide whether the mining industry should pay more taxes.

In a lawsuit filed Tuesday in District Court in Carson City against PLAN and the Secretary of State, the Nevada Mining Association argues the petition "violates Nevada's single-subject provision for initiative measures, provides a legally-insufficient and misleading description of effect, violates on its face a raft of state and federal constitutional provisions - including contravening the basic requirement that property taxation in Nevada be uniform, equal and based on just valuations - and furthermore constitutes an impermissible use of the initiative process. The Petition should be declared invalid and the Secretary should be enjoined from placing the measure on the 2010 General Election ballot."