Highlights of Assembly tax plan

Monday, July 14, 2003 | 1:57 a.m.

Here are highlights of the $834.6 million tax plan approved Sunday by the Nevada Assembly:

-FRANCHISE FEE: $192 million would be collected over two years from a gross receipts tax on business. Companies grossing less than $500,000 would be exempted.

-PAYROLL TAX: $161 million would be collected over two years from businesses in the form of a per-employee head tax.

-CIGARETTES: $135.3 million would be collected over two years through a 45-cent-per-pack tax increase on cigarettes.

-ENTERTAINMENT: $118 million would be collected over two years in taxes on live entertainment. The tax would cover casino shows, rock concerts and even legal houses of prostitution.

-CASINOS: $92 million would be collected over two years through a 0.5 percent increase in the percentage fees paid by Nevada casinos. The fees would increase from 6.25 percent to 6.75 percent on gross win.

-REAL ESTATE: $104 million would be collected over two years through a tax on commercial and private real estate deals. The proposed tax of 0.26 percent works out to about $1,000 on a $400,000 property transaction.

-BOOZE: $19.6 million would be collected over two years through a 50 percent increase on liquor sales. That amounts out to a few pennies on a six-pack of beer.

-BANKS: $17.6 million would be collected from banks in the second half of the two-year budget cycle that began July 1. The tax is a 4 percent bank franchise fee.

-FEES: $45.7 million would be collected in fees paid mainly by businesses to the secretary of state. The fees are in a separate bill, and not in SB6, the main tax plan measure.