GOP lawmaker wishes he had voted for mining tax last year

摘要

The Republican state lawmaker who cast the deciding vote in a legislative debate last summer about Nevada's mining tax structure now says he wishes he voted in favor of reining in deductions that mining businesses can claim. State Sen. Keith Pickard on Tuesday said he has changed his position and plans to support a mining tax reform resolution that Democratic leadership in the Nevada statehouse is expected to introduce in the weeks ahead. The Henderson Republican said the hurried nature of last summer's special session made complex decisionmaking difficult. He said he was ultimately swayed by arguments that tax hikes could lead to job losses in the mining industry because, while working as an assistant vice president for a construction company more than a decade ago, he learned firsthand the anguish of layoffs. "That was a mistake. I shouldn't have voted against it. I shouldn't have done it, but I let my emotion get the best of me," he said. "I should not have voted against the mining tax because politically it's killed me."