PolyMet seeks $4 million loan from IRRRB
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The Iron Range Resources and Rehabilitation Board is expected to vote today on whether to grant a $4 million loan to PolyMet Mining Corp. The money would be used to help PolyMet develop a copper-nickel mine in northeastern Minnesota.
The vote comes as Iron Rangers try to hold lawmakers back from dipping into a regional fund derived from mining production taxes.
Defining "hundreds"
Yesterday MN Today compiled a series of maps that identified existing and planned mining projects throughout the Iron Range. We fell short of the "hundreds" of projects as described in a report by the Northland News Center quoting IRRRB commissioner Tony Sertich.
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Sertich tells MPR News that he was describing the number of leads for new business opportunities in the range that includes mining and non-mining activity. He adds that the maps linked to yesterday is a reliable count of of active and proposed mining projects.
There are five new mining projects proposed in the Superior National Forest. The Forest Service will hold public comment periods for each project before they can advance.
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Insight NowIssue of the day
On fairness and taxing Internet sales
The discussion on whether Minnesota ought to depend more on sales taxes has raised an interest view of fairness when it comes to taxing policy.
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The brick-and-morter merchants want parity with those who sell the same products via the web.
This is what Ward Einess, a representative for the Minnesota-based Best Buy electronic stores told state legislators on a hearing over whether to tax Internet sales:
"This is not the imposition of a new tax. The general law as we sit here today is that if you go into a bricks-and-mortar, Minnesota-based retail establishment and you make the purchase of an item that's taxable, that same item is going to be taxable if you purchase it via the Internet, if you purchase it via a catalog or purchase it via any other remote vender."
Critics say that any attempt to tax Internet sales would violate the Constitution's interstate commerce clause - a battle still being waged in the courts. As we told you, Governor Mark Dayton's budget proposal includes a provision to tax sales by websites based in Minnesota, such as PocketYourDollars.com. Other states are looking at Internet sales and are finding their own ways around the legalities.
But the fairness of taxing sales by computer has come up more than once in our discussion about sales taxes. And it's not just a website vs. bricks-and-morter divide. It's also one where you have to balance the large corporations and the mom-and-pop-sized establishments.
As we continue our discussion on consumption taxes in Minnesota, let's pursue this: Should Minnesota look to raise sales tax money through Internet sales? If so, how should the state do this?