The Nevada legislature declined to take action on a Clark County Education Association proposal that would raise the state’s gaming tax to boost school funding. The proposal now goes to the 2022 ballot.
The Nevada legislature has declined to consider a proposal by the state’s largest teachers union to raise the tax on gaming revenue, kicking the issue down the street for the voters to decide in a ballot referendum in 2022.
The Clark County Education Association, which represents Las Vegas area teachers, in November submitted the required number of signatures under state law to ask the Legislature to increase the tax on gaming win from 6.75 percent to 9.75 percent.
The union also sought a bill to raise the portion of the sales tax dedicated to school funding from 2.6 percent to 4.1 percent, which would push the tax in the Las Vegas area to more than 9 percent.
The extra revenue would go to the state’s general fund for unrestricted spending, but the union says the hikes will provide additional funding for K-12 schools.
John Vellardita, the union’s executive director, said the intent was to “start a conversation” about education funding.
Nevada’s tax on gaming revenue is the lowest in the country and hasn’t gone up 2003, when the industry agreed to a half-percent increase as part of a broader tax package. Since then, the industry has made it clear it isn’t entertaining any talk of raising it again, making it all but certain that the rate won’t change any time soon.
Tax increases are a politically sensitive issue for both political parties, especially for the Democrats as they look to defend their legislative majorities and their control of both of Nevada’s U.S. Senate seats from Republican incursions in the 2022 midterms.
In light of which it’s not surprising that not a single member of the Assembly or Senate followed up the teachers union petitions with supporting legislation within the statutory 40 days after the signatures were submitted.
What that means under state law is that both the gaming tax hike and the sales tax hike automatically head to the ballot in the next election.
As Republican consultant Jeremy Hughes told the Associated Press, Nevada Democrats are now obligated to make “each and every candidate and elected official go on the record as to whether they support raising taxes for education or the status quo.”
