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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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