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Apr. 08, 2008
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

Casino industry reacts to tax initiative

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

RENO -- A casino tax initiative backed by the teachers union to fund education would seriously hinder the gambling industry in Northern Nevada and rural communities, according to the executive director of the Nevada Resort Association.

"Many of these places in rural and Northern Nevada, their margins are very small, and clearly, it would have a significant impact on how they operate," Bill Bible said.

The Nevada State Education Association is proposing the tax be raised by 44 percent from 6.75 percent to 9.75 percent for any casino that takes in more than $1 million a month in gross gaming revenues.

Bible said the threshold would include most casino operations in Carson City, Douglas County and Washoe County.

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    • A casino industry analyst agreed with Bible's assessment.

    "When you talk about these casinos, the margins are quite thin, and when you raise their tax by a factor of 44 percent, in the face of other economic issues moving against you, it would be a horrible situation to be in," Bill Lerner, a senior gaming and lodging analyst for Deutsche Bank, told the Reno Gazette-Journal.

    The teachers union must gather at least 58,628 signatures by May 20 to get the proposal on the November ballot.

    Lynn Warne, president of the Nevada State Education Association, said the union felt the $1 million threshold was fair.

    She said it would raise $250 million to $400 million annually and cited a study commissioned by the 2005 Legislature that showed the state would have to boost funding of public education by $1 billion to provide an adequate education in 2013-14.

    "In our analysis, in looking at what the tax rates are around the country and around the world, we felt that $1 million was fair," Warne said.



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    David wrote on April 08, 2008 09:52 PM: What's a casino corporation to do. They certainly don't want to give their employees a piece of their ever exploding profits. They don't want to pay more in taxes. Oh, I know. How about building another casino in an already saturated market?


    ths wrote on April 08, 2008 04:04 PM: It is one thing to go after local casinos that want to build resorts outside the tourist cooridor. They want to gain from locals and they want to intrude onto the residents lives by bringing gaming closer to the population of the state.

    But to tax the resorts additionally is ridiculous as if you think the housing market is bad now, wait if you slow growth down in the tourist cooridor. It is already happening with the recession coming. I work in the tradeshow business and the upcoming shows have clients dropping out or down sizing, hotel room rates are dropping. All these factors will continue to decrease our government budget.

    Fools all we are doing by increasing a tax on the largest taxed industry is making our recessions in the future that much greater. We need to find new sources to tax or even the tax out in other industries within the state. Look at mining and what they are paying.


    Walter wrote on April 08, 2008 03:06 PM: "tenbombs wrote on April 08, 2008 01:23 PM: DennisD - Its the Nevada Constitution, not the casinos, that outlaws a statewide lottery. Get your facts straight."

    tenbombs: The casinos wrote the Nevada Constitution!


    dwc wrote on April 08, 2008 02:12 PM: ths- My point exactly.


    tenbombs wrote on April 08, 2008 01:23 PM: DennisD - Its the Nevada Constitution, not the casinos, that outlaws a statewide lottery. Get your facts straight.


    ths wrote on April 08, 2008 12:01 PM: dwc, the casinos are paying above tax rate then any other business. Most businesses outside of property tax and the sales tax they collect they are paying little to no tax.

    The casino's bring in the largest taxes across the board from property, sales, room and gaming tax.

    If anything is fair bring their tax to 7.5 the same as the state sales tax. Then another .25% to help out with additional police and public services.


    dwc wrote on April 08, 2008 11:05 AM: "Evil Big Casino" should pay the same tax rate as any other entity doing business here. No more, no less. Anything else is un-American.


    ET wrote on April 08, 2008 10:40 AM: The tax needs distribution across the board,for all depts. inc. schools.10 - 20 % is not a burden on the Casinos or they can move on plenty of operators lined up to get into thie LV market.Stop taking the BS Bible is paid off by the Casinos its time for them to pay up, they're taxing the Water,Desert,and blue sky of the state of Nevada.Check out what Laxalt did as Gov., good place to start and see how he saved the Casinos 500 million , we want the $$$ back,and Giudo is going to pay up.


    Mark$ wrote on April 08, 2008 09:32 AM: oh my heavens, you silly Nevadans, what do you need your little high schools for, when the Venetian needs food servers and the Bellagio needs room cleaners. And Sheldon needs a new custom interior on his souped-up Boeing 757 and Terri loves those $400 Italian silk ties at Barneys.


    John O wrote on April 08, 2008 09:32 AM: I for one would vote against the tax increase. I believe the casinos are paying their fair share and thanks to the casinos I don't have to pay a state income tax. Imagine raising taxes at Wal-Mart 44% because they are the most successful dept. store. Or McDonald's because they sell the most fries. It just isn't fair. I can not speak for the other gaming companies but I work for Harrah's and their policy is to give back 1% of ALL profits to each local comunity they are in. Let's have all our locally owned businesses start giving 1% back to the community and then we'll talk about raising their taxes too. Las Vegas is Las Vegas because of the lower then average tax rate on casinos. The average is lower because we have over 130 casinos in the state. Noone wants to take away anything from children but putting the burden on the state's main economic industry alone is just not fair.


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