Advisory panel to study various state tax issues

Thursday, Dec. 18, 2003 | 8:26 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- The Genoa Bar, one of the oldest structures in Nevada, built in the 1850s, brought a sale price in 2000 of $625,000 but is paying a property tax of $406 a year.

H. William Brooks complained to the Legislative Committee for Local Government Taxes and Finance Wednesday that the historic site tax break that keeps that tax low isn't fair. Brooks said his home, which was originally built in 1852, gets hit with $1,053 a year in property tax.

The $647 difference: Brooks didn't seek historic designation for his home because he has altered it so much.

Brooks asked the tax and finance committee to examine the law that allows the historic site tax breaks, and the committee, headed by Assemblyman David Parks, D-Las Vegas, agreed to include it in an upcoming study.

Among the items to be studied by an advisory committee to the panel are the elimination or reduction of depreciation on property values, the property tax cap and the ability of the property tax to keep pace with population and inflation.

The advisory committee will look at the fiscal health of local governments, tax exemptions and fuel taxes.

Sen. Joe Neal, D-North Las Vegas, said he would like to see a proposal for a constitutional amendment establishing a rule so that tax breaks or exemptions are "not given willy-nilly to friends and organizations" by the Legislature.

Neal introduced a bill in the last Legislature to eliminate or limit many tax exemptions. Senate Bill 293 would have eliminated such exemptions as those on personal property for livestock, colonies of bees, all boats, art and items displayed at conventions. It would have limited property tax breaks to new companies and would have scrapped the tax breaks for parsonages owned by religious organizations.

The bill did not get out of the Senate Taxation Committee.

Neal said he wanted to see some rules on how these breaks are given "rather than giving perks to companies that come in and we don't see a benefit."

Guy Hobbs, a Las Vegas tax specialist, said this issue of exemptions was studied about four years ago and that report will be updated.

Brooks wanted a study of the tax exemption for open spaces, which would include a break for structures designated as historic by the state. The state Constitution, he said requires uniform and equal taxation.

Brooks said the present law on these exemptions is "vague and open to different interpretations." He said it needs to be tightened.

Because of the exemptions given to such structures as the Genoa Bar, "I have to make up the difference in lost (tax) revenues," Brooks said.