Jan. 25, 2001--
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) _ A Senate committee has narrowly endorsed a bill to provide a $17.5 million a year tax break for the mining industry.
The bill sponsored by Sen. Howard Stephenson, president of the business-based Utah Taxpayers Association, would grant income-tax credits for sales taxes paid on equipment, machinery and parts.
The Senate Revenue and Taxation Committee advanced the bill Wednesday on a 4-3 vote.
A few years ago, the Legislature granted manufacturing companies sales-tax exemptions for purchase of machinery, equipment and parts. Mining was left out, but now should be brought into the fold, supporters argue.
Another pitch for the bill is being made on grounds it would create new jobs for communities hard hit in recent years by the downturn of the mining industry.
"We have 500 unemployed coal miners walking around the two counties," said Price Sen. Mike Dmitrich, a mining consultant and lobbyist. "If we had no tax exemptions at all, it would be the perfect state, but we can't just pick and choose and leave one industry entirely out."
Sen. Lyle Hillyard, R-Logan, questioned whether giving mining companies tax incentives to buy new equipment would help create jobs or just replace workers with machines.
"It's a concern all of us have. We've gone from 5,500 jobs to 1,900," he said.
Mining in 1970 made up 3.6 percent of Utah's labor force. By 1999, it had declined to 0.7 percent.
(Copyright 2001 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
