Las Vegas NowNevada lawmakers vote on key elements of tax plan to help balance state budget
Associated Press - May 18, 2009 8:55 PM ET
CARSON CITY, Nev. (AP) - Trying to plug a $1.1 billion budget hole, Nevada lawmakers began voting Monday on key elements of a revenue plan that includes increased payroll and sales taxes and higher business and vehicle fees - all likely to be vetoed by Gov. Jim Gibbons.
In the Assembly, legislators voted 33-9 to double business license fees, from $100 to $200 a year, and to charge businesses $200 for each of their locations. That's worth about $72 million to the state. The fees were amended into AB146, which started as a plan to help collect money owed to the state.
Assembly members also voted 37-5 to increase property taxes taken from Nevada's two largest counties, Clark encompassing Las Vegas and Washoe which takes in Reno.
The original plan in Gibbons' budget proposed redirecting 4 cents of every $100 of assessed property value from the counties to the state. As amended, the figure increased to 9 cents, and would generate more than $150 million.
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