EDITORIAL: Back-slaps all around for an unnecessary tax increase

It would hardly be a legislative session run by Democrats without a tax hike, but at least the majority managed to conduct its latest money grab legally.

Lawmakers wrapped up the 81st gathering of the Nevada Legislature late Monday. The damage appears modest, and there will be plenty of time for an inventory in coming weeks. Most of the latter days centered around a last-minute agreement to boost taxes on the mining industry in order to direct more money to public education.

But the congratulatory rhetoric seems overblown.

Democrats needed a handful of GOP lawmakers to go along in order to meet the two-thirds constitutional mandate for tax increases. Last session, they simply ignored the requirement and consequently saw the state Supreme Court strike down two revenue-enhancing bills that they had passed only by simple majority. This time, they actually had to deal with the minority party.

The proposal creates a new tax on larger gold and silver mining operations that is projected to raise about $88 million a year. To pull enough Republican support, Democrats — among other things — agreed to increase funding for the Opportunity Scholarship program, which provides grants to help low-income students attend private schools.

The Nevada Mining Association also jumped on board, clearly hoping to avoid more punitive measures. In return for assuming a prone position, miners can expect Democrats to come back again and look for more.

Gov. Steve Sisolak called the tax hike “one of the most significant steps our state could take on our road to recovery.” All for $88 million? Some perspective is in order.

So-called “education advocates” have been arguing for a decade that Nevada needs to confiscate an additional $1 billion a year from the private sector to “adequately” fund its public schools. This is absurd, but it is what it is. The Clark County Education Association had already qualified two tax massive hikes — estimated to raise $1.4 billion annually — for the ballot, one targeting the gaming industry, the other jacking up the sales tax.

Meanwhile, Democrats had pushed three constitutional amendments — which require voter approval — that would have hit miners with more exorbitant levies.

Under this deal, all of the above goes … poof — although there is debate about whether ballot initiatives that have been submitted and certified can simply be vaporized.

Make no mistake, Nevada didn’t need to raise taxes on mining — or anyone else. The state survived the pandemic in far better financial shape than anticipated and is rolling in federal virus “relief” cash. All of this end-of-session backslapping over an $88 million tax increase in a $4.5 billion annual budget seems designed to convince voters that this session was much more substantive than reality indicates.