BAKERSVILLE — A severance tax on the local quartz mining industry won’t be coming to Mitchell County any time soon.
During the regular meeting of the Mitchell County Board of Commissioners on Monday, April 5, County Manager Tim Greene brought up the topic during his regular report near the end of the meeting.
Greene said adding a severance tax on local mining companies who extract quartz from the county is always a popular idea and one he has heard a few times before.
“The only problem is, we can’t do that,” he said.
Greene said he recently did some research on the subject and sat down to discuss it alongside Tax Assessor Blair Hyder and County Attorney Lloyd Hise.
What the trio found is that North Carolina General Statutes talk specifically about imposing severance taxes and define taxable commodities as “energy minerals” which include all forms of natural gas, oil and refined condensates but quartz doesn’t qualify.
“Unfortunately, it’s something we can’t do,” Greene said. “This comes up from time to time and it’s a good thought. It could lessen the property tax burden on our citizens but it’s not possible.”
Hise said he’s also heard the severance tax discussion before and added that he’s even seen concrete plans drawn up spelling out exactly how to enact such a system.
“Counties are authorized to do exactly what the North Carolina General Statutes say they can do and no more,” Hise said. “General Statutes have not yet said they can tax mineral severance other than energy mineral severance.”
Hise pointed out that the presence of mining companies locally still increases land values.
“A property that has a rich deposit of quartz on it is going to be valued higher than one that has a rich deposit of red clay,” he said.
Hise said hiring a team of geologists and other experts to survey what’s under the ground in Mitchell County could be an option, but ultimately would be an expensive one that would take years to pay off.
“We could, I guess, hire some folks and spend several million to see exactly what’s under the ground in Mitchell County and maybe in 100 years, we’d get our money back,” Hise said. “That’s about where we are.”
Hise reiterated that until the North Carolina General Assembly alters the General Statutes regarding the issue, the county can’t impose a severance tax even if the commissioners desired to.