Union members back tax increases

Friday, March 21, 2003 | 9:46 a.m.

While many Americans watched on television the first full day of a war that could have dire consequences on Nevada's tax revenue, an enthusiastic group of union supporters encouraged lawmakers to boost taxes and to not cut funding for schools.

About 200 red-shirted Culinary Union boosters cheered staff director D. Taylor's call for a 0.25 percent gross receipts tax on business receipts over $450,000 before the Assembly Committee on Taxation Thursday at the Cashman Center theater.

Lawmakers conducted the session in Las Vegas to give residents of Southern Nevada an opportunity to testify on the governor's proposal to raise $984 million in new taxes in the next two fiscal years.

Taylor said the union supports the gross receipts tax as proposed by Gov. Kenny Guinn because it would force large corporations to pay a greater share of taxes that would support education.

The Guinn tax package also includes a 7.3 percent admissions and amusement tax and assessments on property, gaming, slot-route operations and business licenses. Emergency taxes on alcohol and cigarettes would take effect April 1. A gross-receipts tax, as proposed by Guinn, would take effect in 2005.

Taylor's message to the panel was two-fold: Implement a gross-receipts tax that will hit big companies like retail leader Wal-Mart and financial services giant Bank of America, and don't even think about cutting the education budget.

The red shirts worn by Culinary Union members and supporters said "Make B of A pay for our schools" on the back and "Make Wal-Mart pay for our schools" on the front.

"We need to choose a better road than the one we're on," Taylor told lawmakers. "We're much better than 46th in the country," he said in reference to recent news accounts of Nevada ranking 46th in the nation in per-pupil spending in education.

Taylor said Wal-Mart and Bank of America deserved to pay higher taxes because their profits were so great. Last year Bank of America reported $9 billion in profits and Wal-Mart had $8 billion, he said. By contrast, Park Place Entertainment Corp., a leading gaming company based in Las Vegas, reported profits of $160 million, Taylor said.

No representatives of any of those companies were at the hearing, and Wal-Mart and Bank of America officials could not be reached for comment.

While several speakers offered testimony on different aspects of Guinn's tax plan, which are a part of Assembly Bill 243 and Senate Bill 232, it was clear that most present wanted to talk about the proposal's impact on the classroom.

Several said they resented the Clark County School District presenting a survey at a town hall meeting that featured programs that could be pared or eliminated if cuts are necessary.

"We don't need to cut the budget," Taylor said. "We need to fund it."

School Board members Denise Brodsky and Mary Beth Scow called for a budget that would bring stability to the school budget, and kindergarten teacher Vikki Courtney pleaded with lawmakers to fund education to at least a level close to the national average.

Not everybody testified on behalf of education, but most of the comments lawmakers received encouraged the state government to raise taxes, not cut programs.

Larry Spitler, representing the state's American Association of Retired Persons chapter, praised the Guinn tax plan because it maintained funding for Medicaid, while Mark Nichols, executive director of the Nevada chapter of the National Association of Social Workers, sought additional funds for a variety of mental health treatment programs.

"True-blue Nevadans are fed up with Nevada balancing its undersized budget on the backs of our children, seniors, working poor and vulnerable populations," Nichols said. "Budget battles are referred to by everyone trying to get a fair piece of the pie. Nevada doesn't have a pie -- we have a cookie and we're all fighting over the crumbs."