SW Gas CEO supports gross receipts tax

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Monday, March 31, 2003 | 11:17 a.m.

The head of Southwest Gas Corp. of Las Vegas says he supports Gov. Kenny Guinn's proposed gross receipts tax on businesses -- and says Southwest Gas would pass the tax on to customers.

"I guess I'm at the point right now, with respect to the gross receipts tax, that I'm willing to give the governor the benefit of the doubt," Southwest CEO Michael Maffie said in an interview published in the March 28 edition of In Business Las Vegas, a sister newspaper to the Las Vegas Sun.

The issue of widening Nevada's tax base, Maffie said, is one that should have been addressed by former governors in better economic times.

"The situation we're in today, in terms of a tax structure that will not accommodate the future, is not a new issue," he said. "It's an issue that's really been around 20 years. It's been around because of political cowardice."