Gibbons calls for special session

Gov. Jim Gibbons issued a proclamation Tuesday officially calling a special session of the Nevada Legislature Feb. 23.

The list of budget cuts included in the proclamation and backup documentation projects $12.4 million in savings and 136 layoffs by shutting down Nevada State Prison in Carson City.

But the list also includes several revenue raising proposals - the largest of which is elimination of numerous exemptions now allowed mining companies as offsets to the Net Proceeds of Minerals Tax. Those changes would generate an estimated $50 million this budget cycle - $25 million a year.

In addition, he called for changes to force collection of sales taxes on Internet purchases.

Gibbons rejected the suggestion that those proposals constitute tax increases.

"These are not new taxes," he said.

"They are already required to pay those taxes," he said of the Internet tax. "Businesses conducting business in the state of Nevada are actually escaping those taxes."

Of the mining tax, he said the plan involves "closing loopholes, not raising taxes."

"We're clarifying the deductions they are allowed to take."

The proposal also includes removing mandates now imposed on school districts, giving them much more flexibility to handle the 10 percent budget cuts they face.