The financial support needed for defending Nevada Governor Brian Sandoval’s recently introduced $1.1-billion tax plan comes to a greater extend from the state’s largest gambling operators.
People with knowledge of the matter explained that this is due to the fact that the tax plan covers a wider variety of businesses and does not rule out Nevada’s gambling industry. Local media reported that the greater part of the $242,000 Coalition for Nevada’s Future, the group that stand behind the proposed tax package, received back in 2015 was donated by five major gambling companies operating within the state’s borders.
Caesars Entertainment, MGM Resorts International, and Wynn Resorts each contributed $38,000. Boyd Gaming and Station Casinos gave $28,500 each. Last but not least, Affinity Gaming paid $4,750. Smaller casinos around Reno also contributed certain amounts of money. The coalition uses the money to try stopping a number of efforts aimed at repealing the new Commerce Tax.
Proponents of the measure believe that if a larger range of Nevada-based businesses is taxed, this would secure a stable revenue stream that would help the state’s economy hold steady at a time when separate industries are struggling.
However, opponents of the Commerce Tax were given the green light to gather signatures against the plan in order to be able to put a question for its repeal on the November ballot.
Commenting on the $1.1-billion tax package, Virginia Valentine, President of the Nevada Resort Association, said that the overall decline in Nevada’s revenue was mainly due to the “very narrow tax base.” She further noted that the Commerce Tax should provide long-term growth by reducing volatility, especially now as the state’s economy is growing more and more diverse. The Nevada Resort Association currently represents the state’s biggest casino resorts.
According to people with knowledge of the matter, Nevada’s gambling operators have personal interest in the Commerce Tax surviving the November ballot. David Damore, Professor in Political Science at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, explained that lawmakers may once again turn to gaming, if the tax package is repealed. The scholar also noted that the Commerce Tax is considered a win by the state’s gaming industry due to the fact that even though taxes went up, those went up for everyone else as well.
