A bill that would have changed the way the coal industry is taxed has died after the sponsor removed the bill from consideration. Senate Revenue Committee Chairman John Hines says that’s because the bill would cost the state too much money.
“It showed a loss to the state of originally several million dollars,” says Hines. “So we had worked on it the whole time as being revenue neutral, and with the thoughts this year that our income is going to be down in the future there is a lot of concern about reducing the coal income which is one of our major sources of income.”
Hines plans on taking the bill back to the Revenue Committee to try and find a way to change the tax structure to make it more revenue neutral and hopes to bring the issue up again next year.
On Friday, Senator Phil Nicholas questioned industry officials claims that the loss to the state would be minimal.