Tuesday, Sept. 30, 1997 | 9:33 a.m.
A Republican fund-raising group is bucking other conservatives by urging the Clark County Commission to vote to raise the sales tax.
The Keystone Corp. issued a statement Monday spelling out reasons why the commission should impose a quarter-cent tax hike to help finance a $3 billion water and sewer project. Other conservative groups want a public vote on the proposed tax hike.
"Even with the sales tax increase, water rates and connection charges will pay for most of the project," said Keystone Chairman Bob Maxey. "Without the sales tax, however, Southern Nevadans alone will shoulder the entire cost through higher water rates and connection fees, and tourists will pay nothing."
Maxey said tourists pay a third of the sales tax in Nevada.
The county commission is expected to decide in November whether to raise the tax or put it on the 1998 ballot. Clark and two other counties pay the highest sales tax rate in the state, at 7 percent.
Two conservative organizations -- the Clark County Republican Central Committee and the Nevada Association of Independent Businesses -- have demanded that the commission put the tax before voters.
GOP spokesman Chuck Muth said the Keystone Corp. could be expected to support the sales tax increase because many of its members belong to the Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce. The chamber spearheaded a bill at the 1997 Legislature allowing counties to raise the sales tax for growth needs.
Clark County Democratic Party Chairman Charlie Waterman said his party has held "spirited" discussions about the tax and is expected to express its views with a formal vote during a meeting Oct. 29.
"Historically, the Democratic Party has been violently opposed to sales tax increases," he said.
Waterman said Democrats have opposed the sales tax because it is "regressive," meaning it hits poor people hardest.
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