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StumbleSenators hear early morning testimony on tax bill
MGM Mirage spokesman says budget cuts alone aren’t enough
Wednesday, May 20, 2009 | 6:40 a.m.
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CARSON CITY - The $781 million tax package was heard by all Nevada senators in a hearing that stretched into the opening minutes of Wednesday morning.
Nevada's major industries testified on the Senate tax bill, which would increase the payroll tax, business license fee, vehicle registration fee and sales tax.
MGM Mirage, the state's largest employer, was first up to testify on the bill.
"We can't rely on budget cuts alone to work our way out of this," Alan Feldman, senior vice president of public affairs, told the Senate, meeting as a committee of the whole. "We believe you have come up with package of fair, broad-based revenue enhancements to meet the needs of Nevada at this time."
Other representatives of gaming and other Nevada businesses were more circumspect, saying that while they saw the need for new revenue, they still wanted to see reforms to public employee pensions and retiree health benefits.
Gina Polovina, vice president of government affairs for Boyd Gaming, said, "We support a tax package. Revenue enhancements are justifiable, accompanied by cuts to spending and reforms" to the Public Employee Benefits Program (retiree health benefits) and Public Employee Retirement System (pensions).
Senate Majority Leader Steven Horsford, D-Las Vegas, said that compared to keeping government services at levels approved in 2007, the Legislature has cut more than $1 billion in spending.
Senate Minority Leader Bill Raggio, R-Reno, said he still wanted a tax increase to sunset.
"Obviously we have to do this. We have to fund what we termed essential services," he said. "We have made major cuts from existing budgets. In our - at least my opinion - the budget is not one with a lot of frills. It's one that funds essential services."
He said his support of the bill is "predicated ... That the taxes would sunset at the end of this biennium."
He specifically mentioned the payroll tax and increase of business license fees.
Reno-Sparks Chamber of Commerce lobbyist Trey Abney said he could not support a tax increase because reforms to public employee benefits haven't emerged yet.
Steve Hill, chairman of the Greater Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce, said he had no problems with the tax components of the bill.
"We understand new revenue will have to be a part of the solution this session," he said. "That being said, we hope the solutions for the long term, the solutions to PERS and PEBP and collective bargaining are also addressed."
He said the state's unfunded liability for those benefits is $11 billion.
While they reached agreement Tuesday night over a revenue plan, Republicans and Democrats are still fighting over those reforms for public employees.
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Since all the Chamber of Commerce people are from the private sector, they preently pay close to ZERO taxes to the state and have a comparative advantage over other surrounding states WHY do they care anything at all about the Public Employee Retirement and Benefits Program?
Well here is a logical answer. They are INSANE. If there are NO public employees and they get no benefits, WHO is going to buy your products and services?
And even more important, who is going to protect you from the citizens at large?
Plus, since almost all the doctors, nurses and dentists are trained by the public sector, where are you going to get help for you or your family when you get sick or shot or in a car wreck or get burned in a fire?
Maybe the Chamber of Commerce guys and girls should worry about managing their businesses and growing their revenue than shafting the very people who make it possibe for them to do what they do in the first place.
Pensions and higher taxes destroyed California. Do we really need to repeat the process to prove it did? Wanting more doesn't make things happen. Calif. is going to lay off thousands at the state level but 5 times that many in local government and schools this next month. Every hit they take results in less visitors to Las Vegas. We need to get our spending in control to grow.
NEVADA SHOULD BE THE MOST PROSPEROUS STATE IN THE U.S. and even in the world!
There's no reason whatsoever to increase the payroll taxes or to increase business license fees (these are already very high) or to increase vehicle registration fees which are pretty high already.
If Nevada would have been managed properly, Nevada would be the premier example of a top-notch prosperous state not only in the U.S., but on a global scale even compared to other countries. What's needed in Nevada are not tax and fee hikes, but instead we need a new qualified management who has a vision for our state and which has the ability to implement a definite plan to make Nevada #1 in the world. And it ain't that hard with all the prerequisites we already have and with the enormous influx of new residents.
With proper management, Nevada can be this shining star on a hill (in the desert). Instead of playing politics, it's time to buckle up and to implement a top economic plan to up the ante regarding education, to improve the quality of life and to invest in proper infrastructure to bring new business (small and large) to our state, ... we've got plenty of land and resources to do so. Seems like Carson City is asleep at the wheel.
Just because we don't have a state income tax and because we live next door to a high-tax and bureaucratic monster state like California, doesn't mean we need to tax ourselves into oblivion. Instead we need to have low taxes (lower the sales tax rate to 5% and lower payroll tax rates), lower property taxes (currently these are way to high, ... these need to be cut in half), and we need to have lower fees on vehicle registration and renewals, and lower business license fees and even less bureaucracy and so forth. We've got over 40 million visitors a year and Las Vegas is still the best vacation/leisure value in the country/world, and that's plenty "firepower" to create the greatest oasis of wealth and prosperity in the world. Let's get it done and let's make Nevada #1 in the world, ... of course we need new quality leadership to get it done.
And by the way, just a thought: Why are we as Nevadans still paying a huge federal income tax to the federal government? ... which doesn't care about Nevada and which is just taking our money for virtually nothing in return. Nevada could survive pretty well as it's own "country" and we don't need to pump our dollars into the D.C. coffers.
Well their is an educated comment by scherf.com. So you remove and lower all taxes what services would the state be offering?
I think new broad business taxes and cut in state and local government benefits are key to balancing a budget and making this state most attractive to more business in a more diverse industry.
Currently we have low taxes and business does not want to move here. That is due to not being able to give them the basic services of educating the population that is their hiring pool, or the leaders of the business feeling good about raising a family here.
I bet if you did a small broad business tax that allowed us to invest in the basic government services of education, public safety and transportation that pulls us out of the top ranking in every bad statistic we can attract more to this state.