Gaming Tax Increase:
Endorsements and supportive statements from editorial writers, commentators and
political leaders

Photo: STATE SEN. Joe Neal addresses the media in front of boxes of petitions at the West Las Vegas Library.
--Sam Morris, Las Vegas Sun

 

 

The Empire Blinks

Sen. Titus defends Sen. Neal, says gamers and governor may move toward compromise

In an astounding turn of events, Nevada State Senate Minority Leader Dina Titus, D-Las Vegas, who has been at odds with Sen. Neal throughout her career, spoke up for his petition campaign and announced that the gambling industry and the governor may call a compromise summit. She added that the industry may deal on a 2% gross gaming tax increase, identical with Neal's SB 88 which the gamblers killed in1999. Read the whole story.

Jeff Burbank
Las Vegas Business Press

Tax gaming, gold mining, smoking and other sins

"Despite its low-tax reputation, Nevada is now the 12th-highest tax-paying state, according to a survey by the Nevada Policy Research Institute."
(3-20-00)

[Editor's Note: Many Las Vegas Business Press and LV CityLIfe links have changed. Please use their search engines.]

Carol Vogel
Columnist, Reno Gazette-Journal

Why can't casinos pay their fair share?

"How is it that a guy like Steve Wynn can walk away with $500 million from the sale of the Mirage Resort, which sold to MGM for $6.4 billion, and the casino industry can't afford $388 million annually in new taxes?"
(3-29-00)

Oscar Goodman
Las Vegas Mayor

"The gaming industry [is] avaricious, parasitic and selfish. The casinos [are] not giving enough to the community. They put money in their pocket and walk away from it."

As quoted by columnist Jon Ralston in the Las Vegas Sun, 3-22-000.

Who will represent common people in tax battle?
by Bill Hanlon
member, Nevada State Board of Education &
Grandfather-In-Law to Gov. Kenny Guinn
This column appeared in the 3-8-00 Sparks Tribune
and 3-9-00 Carson City Nevada Appeal

"Nevada's structural deficit has been known for years. Legislators, our representatives, have chosen to ignore it. It's now getting out of hand and something has to be done. Anyone who continues to chant the "no new taxes" slogan is a person having difficulty facing reality.

"The state's inability to pay a competitive salary package has left our schools with a shortage of math and science teachers. That does not bother the wealthy or celebrity elite because they send their kids to private schools. We have also seen that in the health care industry, our local and state leaders go out of state to address their medical problems.

"Nevada's tax structure does not support the needs of the people in the state. The business community through their chambers of commerce are burying their heads in the sand. I would suggest that if they don't like the proposals on the table, they stop griping and come up with a proposal of their own. Maybe that's being too constructive.

"Bill Hanlon, a Las Vegas educator, is a member of the Nevada Board of Education. His views do not necessarily reflect those of other members."

Jon Ralston, Columnist
Reno Gazette-Journal

Gaming Tax Hike Inevitable

"Revenues from the most important contributor to the state budget will decline - sooner rather than later. But although he may be sympathetic, the governor also will have to tap the gamers for part of the solution, asking them, perhaps, to use some of their newfound Indian gaming revenues to help pay into the pot. It's not a question of how, but how much."

Nancy Dallas, Republican
former Lyon County Commissioner
Nevada Appeal

Will gaming consent to tax increase?

"I oppose raising any tax if revenue is not needed. However, if additional revenue is needed in the near future, I don't think the private citizen and small-business owners should continue to be 'nickled, dimed and dollared' to death, while the enormous gross revenues of our state's largest casinos go untouched again."
(2-11-00)

Geoff Schumacher, Managing Editor
Las Vegas City Life

Are casinos ready to deal?

"In either case, the gaming tax should go up, and contrary to the industry's rhetoric, 5 percent is not too much. It hasn't gone up since 1987, and it's one of the lowest in the country. This fast-growing state needs the revenue to provide basic services. Gov. Kenny Guinn and the 2001 Legislature are going to be pulling their hair out--and each other's--over how to pay for barebones services."
(2-3-00)

Steve Sebelius, Columnist
Las Vegas Review-Journal

The Double-Down Double Deal

"It's painfully obvious that the gaming tax, set at 6.25 percent since 1987, needs to be increased."
(1-27-00)

Andrew Barbano, Columnist
The Daily Sparks Tribune

"My heart bleeds for the gambling-industrial complex."
(1-26-00)

Guy W. Farmer, Columnist
Carson City Nevada Appeal

Smart operators would boost casino tax.
(1-2-00)

Hugh Jackson, Editor
Las Vegas Business Press

A Lovely Day for a Tax Hike

"Now seems like a particularly good time."
(8-30-99)

Prof. Jake Highton, UNR Dept. of Journalism
The Daily Sparks Tribune

"Sen. Neal is right...6.25 percent is grossly unjust in a state that grossly neglects essential services."
(3-25-99)

Editorial
Carson City Nevada Appeal

Casino Tax

"Sen. Joe Neal's idea for another tier on Nevada's casino tax deserves a full debate in the Nevada Legislature and, in the end, is worthy of compromise legislation this session... There is nothing particularly unfair or discriminatory about Neal's plan. Nevada already has a tier system distinguishing among different-sized operations; this would simply refine it to take into account the megaresorts now springing up like mushrooms in Las Vegas."
(3-11-99)

Orland T. Outland, Columnist
The Daily Sparks Tribune

"The time is ripe to force this issue of the insignificant amount of taxes gaming pays in this state on the profits it derives through the application of obscene probability odds it inflicts on its gaming clients. Emulate the phrase from 'Network': we are mad as hell and we are not going to take it anymore!"
(7-20-98)

Editorial
Reno News & Review alternative weekly newspaper

"Make Casinos Pay:...the real reason we're suffering a shortfall is that Nevada casinos aren't paying their fair share...Meanwhile, Nevada casino companies are taking their profits out of state and building resorts in jurisdictions where the tax is triple what it is here. It's time for Nevada casinos to contribute more to this state."
(12-23-98)

"Casinos here pay a tax of only 6.25% on gross revenues--the lowest gambling tax rate in the world."
(1-21-99)

"Raise the casino tax."
(3-11-99)

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