MADISON, Wis. (AP) — The state Senate’s top Republican said Wednesday that he opposes including any so-called tonnage tax in a bill that would overhaul Wisconsin’s mining regulations.
Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald said during a brief address at a Madison business convention that a faction of his caucus has been mulling tweaking the bill to add the tax, which would require mining companies to pay according to how much iron they extract. He said such a tax would signal that legislators don’t want mining in the state and Republican Gov. Scott Walker almost certainly would veto any bill that includes it.
“It flies in the face of everything we’ve talked about for two years,” Fitzgerald told reporters during a question-and-answer period after the speech. “This state is a state that welcomes mining. I don’t understand why you’d want to do that.”
Since Republicans took full control of state government in early 2011, they have been trying to help Gogebic Taconite open a massive iron mine in the Penokee Hills just south of Lake Superior. Company officials have promised the mine would create hundreds of jobs in the area and thousands more for heavy equipment manufacturers around the state, but they want Republicans to clear the regulatory path before they move forward.
Conservationists and Democrats, meanwhile, have railed against the company’s plans for the mine, insisting the project would devastate the area’s pristine environment.
Republicans introduced a bill in January that makes sweeping changes to the state’s mining regulations. The bill would impose what’s known as a net proceeds tax on iron mining companies. Essentially, the companies would have to pay a tax based on a percentage of their annual revenue. The money would be divided between local governments around the mine site and the state.
Fitzgerald said during his speech that some members of his caucus are worried the mining industry is too volatile and a company might not make enough money to generate much tax revenue. They want to impose the tonnage tax to ensure that locals and the state get something, he said.
But Walker won’t support any new taxes, Fitzgerald, R-Juneau, said. The net proceeds tax doesn’t qualify as a new tax because that’s how businesses are currently taxed, he said. The bill also would require mining companies to pay local governments fees on top of taxes to offset the mine’s impact, ensuring they would see some dollars regardless, Fitzgerald pointed out to reporters.
He didn’t say who in his caucus supported the tonnage tax during the speech and shrugged off the question during his conversation with reporters afterward.
The bill is currently before the Legislature’s budget committee awaiting a vote that would send it on to the full Assembly and Senate. Fitzgerald said he wasn’t sure when the panel would take up the measure but hinted it would be soon, saying he hopes the full Senate will vote during the last week of February.
