"Seen from behind, the palatial replicas and resorts are a kind of Potemkin village, screening from view an inner squalor of local politics where wealth and power are in the hands of only a few, a parody of rich and poor."Compared to what it takes, the ruling industry gives back crumbs. Its rule is purchased, not won, though no less complete for the usurpation. It evades all but a minor fraction of taxes, recompense that might create public assets in Nevada to match the mountains of private profit.
" Instead, as from the beginning, it plunders the city, state and nation, poisoning air, disfiguring land, stealing water, ransoming the future for ravenous gain seized by fix and favor. It masks only thinly its habitual racism and sexism. If its prosperity is legend, many of its jobs are menial, and its coveted payroll is mocked by enormous inequity, the gap between millions taken by owners and the few thousand in shiftwork subsistence paid most workers."
From "The Money and the Power — The Making of Las Vegas and Its Hold on America, 1947-2000" by Sally Denton & Roger Morris, published by Alfred A. Knopf, New York, NY, 2001, page 10. Also a two-hour television special on the Arts & Entertainment Network, 2002. Check local listings. Videocasettes available from A&E.
Below, you will find the text of Sen. Neal's 2000 statewide initiative petition to raise the lowest gross gaming tax in the world in order to provide for the needs of the nation's fastest-growing state. Sen. Neal introduced legislation along these same lines in 1999 and 2001. The gambling-industrial complex has defeated all such endeavors since 1987, all the while taking its tremendous profits and investing them in competition against Nevada throughout the nation and the world.
EXPLANATION --- Matter in bolded
italics is new; matter between brackets [omitted material]
is material to be omitted.
AN ACT relating to gaming; providing a declaration of the intent of the people of the State of Nevada concerning the taxation of gaming; imposing an additional state license fee on gaming licensees based upon the gross revenue of the licensee; providing the manner in which the revenue from the additional fee must be used; and providing other matters properly relating thereto.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEVADA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
Section 1. Chapter 463 of NRS is hereby amended by adding thereto the provisions set forth as sections 2 and 3 of this petition.
Sec. 2.The people of the State of Nevada hereby find and declare that:
1. The growth of the gaming industry in this state has created a disparity in the diversification of the economy of this state;
2. The gaming industry has a significant impact on governmental service requirements for the infrastructure necessary to preserve the economic, political and social health of this state such as schools, water projects, sanitation projects, police and fire protection, transportation projects and environmental protection;
3. The gaming industry must pay its fair share of the financial burden of its impact on governmental services and the environment;
4. It is contrary to the will of the people of the State of Nevada for the gaming industry to use its political influence gained through campaign contributions to shift its responsibility to pay its fair share of that burden to other businesses and private citizens by keeping taxes on gaming activities low or nonexistent with tax exemptions;
5. The authority to conduct gaming in this state is a privilege and not a right, and is thereby subject to the will and control of the people of the State of Nevada; and
6. The legislature shall not be unduly influenced or otherwise encumbered by the means of political contributions and shall only amend this chapter in furtherance of the will of the people of the State of Nevada to control gaming through taxation to ensure that the gaming industry pays its fair share of the financial burden of the impact of gaming on this state, including the costs of operating public schools, building and maintaining public roads and highways, facilitating effective state law enforcement, promoting appropriate economic diversification and otherwise maintaining the economic, political and social health of this state.
Sec. 3. 1. In addition to the license fee imposed by NRS 463.370 and any other license fees and taxes imposed by this chapter, the commission shall charge and collect from each licensee an additional license fee of 5 percent of all the gross revenue of the licensee which exceeds $1,000,000 per calendar month.
2. The additional license fee imposed by subsection 1 must be administered in the same manner as the license fee imposed by NRS 463.370. The provisions of NRS 463.370 and the remainder of this chapter apply to the additional license fee imposed by subsection 1 in the same manner as they apply to the fee imposed by NRS 463.370.
3. The revenue derived from the additional license fee imposed by subsection 1 must be accounted for in a separate account in the state general fund. The interest and income earned on the money in the account, after deducting any applicable charges, must be credited to the account. Money in the account does not revert to the state general fund at the end of the fiscal year or at any other time but remains in the account for expenditure pursuant to this section. The money in the account:
(a) Must be used only as provided in subsections 4 to 8, inclusive, for which purposes the money is hereby appropriated.
(b) On June 30 of each year must be distributed pursuant to subsections 4 to 8, inclusive.
4. Forty-five percent of the money in the account established pursuant to subsection 3 must be distributed to the superintendent of public instruction for allocation to the school districts and charter schools. The superintendent of public instruction shall distribute all money received pursuant to this section on an annual basis to the school districts and charter schools on or before August 1 of each year. The percentage of the total money available for annual allocation in each year that is allocated to each school district and charter school must be the same percentage as the number of pupils enrolled in the school district or charter school in the immediately preceding fiscal year bears to the total number of pupils enrolled in all school districts and charter schools in the immediately preceding fiscal year. Each charter school and school district shall use all money received pursuant to this section for operating costs of the charter school or the schools in the school district, including the purchase of books and computer software and hardware. Money received pursuant to this section must not be used to replace or reduce money a charter school or school district would otherwise have expended on the total operating costs of the charter school or the schools in the school district, including salaries, and must not be considered in determining the apportionment of money from the state distributive school account.
5. Thirty-eight percent of the money in the account established pursuant to subsection 3 must be distributed to the motor vehicle fund created by NRS 482.180 and accounted for separately in an account for use only to offset the reduction of the basic privilege tax on motor vehicles required by this section. The interest and income earned on the money in the account, after deducting any applicable charges, must be credited to the account and the money in the account does not revert at the end of the fiscal year or any other time but remains in the account for expenditure pursuant to this subsection. Each year the director of the department of motor vehicles and public safety shall:
(a) Within 10 days after the distribution of money is made pursuant to this section to the account in the motor vehicle fund, estimate the amount of revenue that will be collected as proceeds of the basic privilege tax imposed by NRS 371.040 for a 1 year period beginning on September 1 of the year in which the estimate is made;
(b) Using the estimate prepared pursuant to paragraph (a) and the most current report of the balance in the account in the motor vehicle fund, determine the percentage by which the basic privilege tax could be fully offset by the money in the account for the 1 year period beginning on that September 1;
(c) Reduce the basic privilege tax collected by the department and its agents for the 1 year period beginning on that September 1 by the percentage determined pursuant to paragraph (b);
(d) Publish an announcement to notify the residents of the State of Nevada of the percentage that the basic privilege tax will be reduced for the upcoming 1 year period beginning on September 1; and
(e) Use the money in the account in the motor vehicle fund to offset the reduction in the rate of tax collected so that the amount distributed to the local governments pursuant to NRS 482.181 is the same as if the full amount of the basic privilege tax had been collected.
6. Eight percent of the money in the account established pursuant to subsection 3 must be distributed to the Nevada highway patrol for deposit in an account for the augmentation of the salaries of the officers of the Nevada highway patrol. Each year, within 10 days after the distribution of money is made pursuant to this section to the Nevada highway patrol, the chief of the budget division of the department of administration shall determine the largest percentage increase of the salaries of the officers of the Nevada highway patrol that could be fully funded with the money in the account for the augmentation of the salaries of the officers of the Nevada highway patrol for a 1 year period beginning on September 1 of the year in which the determination is being made and report that percentage to the Nevada highway patrol. The Nevada highway patrol shall ensure that the money in the account is used to increase the salary paid to each officer by the percentage reported for the year beginning on September 1 of the year in which the percentage was determined, except that no officer's annual salary may be increased pursuant to this section to an amount that exceeds 5 percent more than the highest annual salary of an officer serving in a similar position in another state or local governmental law enforcement agency in this state, as determined by the Nevada highway patrol. The money in the account may also be used to pay any administrative or other costs that are directly related to the augmentation of the salaries such as the increase in the state's portion of the retirement contributions of the officers. Any money remaining in the account at the end of a fiscal year, and the interest and income earned on that money, does not revert and must be included in the balance of the account for the next year. Money received pursuant to this section must not be used to replace or reduce money that would otherwise have been made available to pay the salaries of the officers of the Nevada highway patrol. Each salary augmentation made pursuant to this section must be paid in the same manner as the regular salary for the year for which it was calculated and must be included as salary for all purposes, including retirement and workers' compensation, but does not increase the salary of the officer for any year other than the one in which it is paid. The legislature may transfer money from the account created by this subsection to a separate account in the state general fund and use the money to augment or increase the salaries of the employees of the state gaming control board if the legislature determines that the money will remain in the account for the augmentation of the salaries of the officers of the Nevada highway patrol after the transfer at least 125 percent of the amount used for the purposes of this subsection in the year in which the transfer is made.
7. Seven percent of the money in the account established pursuant to subsection 3 must be distributed to the commission on economic development for use in promoting economic diversification in this state in the manner provided by NRS 231.067. Money received pursuant to this section must not be used to replace or reduce money that would otherwise have been made available to promote economic diversification in this state.
8. Two percent of the money in the account established pursuant to subsection 3 must be distributed to the department of human resources to provide programs to help gaming patrons cope with gaming addiction. Money received pursuant to this section must not be used to replace or reduce money that would otherwise have been made available to provide such programs.
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