Many firms in dark about tax changes

Erin Neff

Tuesday, Aug. 5, 2003 | 11:14 a.m.

The Nevada Taxation Department has details on all of the state's taxes at its website: http://tax.state.nv.us

While some taxpayers bemoan the "mini-IRS" they say was established with the recent tax law, the Taxation Department says it isn't even sure it can spread the word about who has to pay.

Dino DiCianno, the state's deputy tax director, said Monday that one of the biggest challenges with the $836 million in new taxes will be making sure that everyone who is supposed to pay knows it.

"Clearly there are some things that may slip through the cracks," DiCianno said.

The Legislature approved new taxes on business and bank payrolls, bank branches, live entertainment and real property transfers. Lawmakers also increased existing taxes and reduced the collection fees retailers get for turning over sales and excise tax revenues to the state.

But beyond the $27.5 million earmarked to the Taxation Department for new technology and the hiring of 55 new employees, no money was designated to notify tax-paying businesses about the changes.

There will be lots of people who don't know about the state's biggest tax hike in history, DiCianno said.

"There are people who don't have computers, there are people who don't read newspapers," he said. "And there are people who don't accept their mail."

Tax Commission Chairwoman Barbara Smith Campbell said she is already concerned about taxpayers who appeal notices of taxation claiming they were not aware of a tax.

"People have said they didn't know about the business license tax," Campbell said. "We have got to get the word out."

While ignorance of the law is no excuse to not pay taxes, the state has a responsibility to tell people about the new taxes -- something the Nevada Taxpayers Association believes will be very difficult.

"You have new people moving here and you have the problem that we still have some remote areas where the newspapers are weekly and confined to local type issues," Carole Vilardo, president of the Nevada Taxpayers Association, said.

Vilardo also said that while a person may have heard about the payroll tax or live entertainment tax, that doesn't mean he or she understands the details or how that might apply to a particular business.

Lastly, Vilardo said, new policies such as the requirement that sole proprietors pay the now-annual business license fee, have left the tax department scrambling to identify who should pay.

"They will be relying on many of the trade groups and chambers as well as talking to other agencies and looking into their databases," Vilardo said. "It is a very difficult task to try to identify everyone."