Walters’ golf course misses tax exemption

Tuesday, June 1, 1999 | 11:08 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- Professional gambler Billy Walters made a last ditch effort Sunday to gain a tax exemption for his Las Vegas golf course but came up short because of a legal ruling.

"We're disappointed," said Harvey Whittemore, the lobbyist hired by The Walters Group in the last few weeks to push through an exemption similar to the one given the privately run Angel Park Golf Course, located in a public park in Las Vegas.

"I'm sure we will come back" in the 2001 Legislature, Whittemore said Monday. "It's a matter of equity."

The Legislature earlier passed and Gov. Kenny Guinn has signed a bill restoring the tax exemption for Angel Park. The bill, however, did not grant the benefit to three other golf courses that are privately operated on public lands, including Walters' Desert Pines.

Late Sunday night Sen. Jon Porter, R-Boulder City, proposed that the Senate Taxation Committee add an amendment for the golf course tax exemption onto Senate Bill 259, which dealt with economic development tax benefits. The committee agreed, but within minutes it was called back into session and informed by its chairman, Sen. Mike McGinness, R-Fallon, that legislative attorneys said the amendment could not be added because it did not deal with the same subject as the bill.