Nevada Resort Association

Lobbyists swiftly thwarted an effort by state senators to cancel tax rebates given to the gaming industry on Friday, according to reports by the Las Vegas Sun and the Reno Gazette-Journal.

At issue was a Nevada Supreme Court decision that stated Casinos did not have to pay tax on free meals for their employees or comped meals for guests, which led to casinos filing requests for refunds that could reach over $100 million. The legislation introduced yesterday would have clarified the definition of a meal for tax purposes, preventing them from collecting a rebate.

When word got out about the bill, and its "unanimous" support, they descended on the offices capital, according to the Sun. Despite the visible presence of lobbyists, many lawmakers did not acknowledge any impact they might have had on the Republican majority's decision not to consider the bill and Governor Gibbon's public statement retracting his support for it.

Nevada Resort Association executive director Bill Bible says the teachers' union initiative to increase gaming taxes by 44% could threaten the gambling industry in northern Nevada and rural counties, where profit margins are small.

The proposed tax hike would affect casinos that have gross revenue of more than $1 million a month.  Bible says that this would include most casinos in Carson City, Douglas County and Washoe County. 

Geoff Dornan is reporting in the Nevada Appeal that the teachers have won a victory in court and, for now, their initiative will be on the ballot in November.

The ballot language would increase the tax on gaming 3 percent for any property that earns more than $1 million a month and would dedicate that toward teacher's salaries and student achievement.

Most are betting on an appeal to the Nevada Supreme Court by the Nevada Resort Association.

Read the full story here:

http://www.nevadaappeal.com/article/20080403/NEWS01/966994531 

Recent news reports detailing the machinations accompanying various proposed ballot initiatives in Nevada indicate that political dysfunction is not something that is the sole provenance of the Democratic presidential nomination process. Just as the inability of the Democrats to settle on a presidential nominee suggests institutional processes going awry, so do the recent court challenges that have further muddied the waters about what is and is not an acceptable ballot initiative in the state of Nevada.

To review: the successful removal of the TASC proposal from the ballot during the last election cycle on the grounds that that its sponsors circulated different versions of the proposal when collecting the requisite signatures opened the floodgates for various interests to use the courts as means to preemptively challenge proposed initiatives that threaten their comfortable hold over the status quo.