Officials working on tax exemption for Steve Wynn’s art

Brendan Riley

Tuesday, Feb. 29, 2000 | 9:46 a.m.

CARSON CITY, Nev. - State tax officials are putting final touches on a rule that will give casino mogul Steve Wynn a tax break on his $400 million art collection, much of it displayed at a Las Vegas megaresort.

Critics say the proposal, reviewed Monday by the state Taxation Department, is tailor-made for Wynn, and could save him $15 million or more in the first year alone.

But lobbyist and lawyer Harvey Whittemore, speaking for Wynn and his Mirage Resorts Inc., says it's not clear yet what the actual tax benefit will be. Also, the plan includes several concessions by Wynn, including discount admission for Nevadans at his Bellagio hotel-casino gallery.

The 1997 state Legislature first granted Wynn a tax break, but it was delayed when the Nevada Tax Commission insisted on free admission to the gallery. Wynn balked and sued.

The 1999 Legislature followed up with a law allowing property and sales tax exemptions even if fees are charged at major art exhibits. Despite continuing criticism of the plan, proponents said the break was warranted for anyone who brings fine art to Nevada and puts it on public display.

The rule now in the works is based on the 1999 law. Whittemore said the lawsuit that Wynn had filed earlier will be dropped.

Under the proposal, Wynn can continue to charge a $12 admission fee and qualify for the tax exemptions. But he must give Nevadans a 50 percent discount, and provide at least five hours a day, 60 days a year, for free tours by schoolchildren and art students.

If Wynn makes money on the admission fees, he must either pay a tax on it or donate proceeds to groups, including the Nevada State Council on the Arts, the state Division of Museums and History or museums with exhibits that relate to either children or nature.

Whittemore said more than 600,000 people went through the Bellagio gallery last year, generating gross revenues of more than $7 million. He didn't give a net revenue figure. He also said Wynn plans to buy even more art for his collection and gallery.

Wynn publicly started his art-buying binge in November 1996 with the $2.9 million purchase of Manet's "Portrait de Mademoiselle Suzette Lemaire, de profil."

Since then, he or Mirage Resources bought Cezanne's "Portrait of a Woman," Monet's "Water-Lily Pond with Bridge," Van Gogh's "Woman in a Blue Dress," and Degas' "Dancer Taking Her Bow."

He also has a Gauguin Tahitian scene, a Renoir of a girl and her mother by a riverbank, and works by Matisse, Picasso, Giacometti, Jackson Pollock, Robert Rauschenberg, Jasper Johns, Franz Kline, Willem de Kooning, Roy Lichtenstein, Andy Warhol and other major artists.