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Archive for month: May, 2014

You are here: Home » Updates » Political Update – March 9, 2015 » 2014 » May
May 28, 2014
28 May 2014

Political Update – May 28, 2014

Panel: Nevada margins tax proposal leaves many unanswered questions

By: LAURA MYERS
LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL

If Nevada voters approve a proposed 2 percent margins tax on business in November, there will be a lot of uncertainty about which companies will be taxed and whether the $750 million annual revenue raised will really be used to increase education funding, said experts who debated the ballot question in Las Vegas on Monday.

“The devil is always in the details,” Jeremy Aguero of Applied Analysis said.

Aguero, who has done studies for proponents and opponents, said it’s unclear, for example, how “pass through” revenue would be taxed. A general contractor who wins a $1 million job and spends $800,000 to hire subcontractors to do the work may or may not be taxed on the full amount — even if the subcontractors are taxed on their revenue — Aguero said.

“This is not entirely clear,” he said. “There will probably be some court cases.”

Read More Here

 



Keystone’s Mission:

To recruit, support and advocate for candidates for public office who support private sector job creation, low taxation, a responsible regulatory environment, and effective delivery of essential state services.

Keystone’s Goals:
  • To focus on candidate support on state legislative races and the governor’s office.
  • To oppose any form of corporate income taxes or other business taxes that discourage capital investment and therefore job creation.
  • Support limiting Nevada state government spending to the rate of population growth.

Quote:
“Even companies that don’t make a profit must pay the proposed margins tax, which opponents say could close small or struggling businesses and cost up to 9,000 jobs, according to a preliminary estimate by Aguero.” – Laura Myers, Las Vegas Review-Journal

Save the Date

Keystone Annual Dinner

with

Dennis Miller

October 14, 2014

Well known for his conservative political opinions Dennis is a regular political commentator on Fox News Channel’s The O’Reilly Factor. He is a stand up comedian and political commentator as well as a TV & radio personality.

The Venetian
Casino • Hotel • Resort
3355 S. Las Vegas Blvd.
Las Vegas, NV 89109

Download The Table and Sponsorship Information Here
Email to: Info@KeystoneNevada.com
Phone to: 702-952-2456

If you’re having trouble viewing this email, you may see it online.

 

in Political Update /by webmaster/#permalink
May 20, 2014
20 May 2014

Political Update – May 20, 2014

Texas lawmaker cautions against business margins tax in Nevada

By: Laura Myers
Las Vegas Review-Journal

A Texas senator Tuesday warned Nevadans not to approve a proposed 2 percent margins tax on businesses, saying it could hurt mid-size companies and efforts to lure new firms to the state.

The proposed Nevada tax, known as the Education Initiative on the Nov. 4 ballot because an estimated $700 million in annual revenue would go to improve schools, was modeled after Texas’ franchise tax.

State Sen. Craig Estes said he voted for the revamped Texas franchise tax in 2006 but last year tried to repeal it. He said the levy has punished mid-size companies and likely has slowed the state’s efforts to attract new companies or help existing businesses expand.

“Some of these mom-and-pop, medium-sized companies saw their taxes go up fourfold,” Estes said in an interview, adding that a new study suggests Texas’ economy could take off even more if the state eliminates the franchise tax.

“The overall benefits of the tax are a lot less than we thought,” he said. “Without it, we could energize the economy.”

Estes was invited by the Nevada Policy Research Institute, a conservative/libertarian think tank, to talk about the margins tax Tuesday in Las Vegas and Wednesday in Reno. He spoke to about 70 people at the Bootlegger Bistro on Tuesday.

The margins tax, Question 3 on the ballot, was proposed by the Nevada State Education Association after the teachers’ union became frustrated with the Nevada Legislature and GOP Gov. Brian Sandoval for not adding funding to education to improve the state’s last-in-the-nation status.

Proponents argue the tax would only hit 13 percent of Nevada businesses, which now pay no income tax. The mining industry, however, pays a tax, as does gaming, which is taxed on gross receipts.

Estes said Texas’ franchise tax is 1 percent on most companies that make at least $1 million in annual revenue and 0.5 percent on wholesalers. He said it wasn’t a new tax for Texas but a revised version because businesses didn’t have to pay the original levy if they were incorporated in another state. Texas limited liability corporations also were not taxed.

“It was like a voluntary tax,” Estes said.

While revising the franchise tax, Texas lowered its property tax rate from $1.50 to $1 per $100 of appraised value, Estes said.

Read More Here

 



Keystone’s Mission:

To recruit, support and advocate for candidates for public office who support private sector job creation, low taxation, a responsible regulatory environment, and effective delivery of essential state services.

Keystone’s Goals:
  • To focus on candidate support on state legislative races and the governor’s office.
  • To oppose any form of corporate income taxes or other business taxes that discourage capital investment and therefore job creation.
  • Support limiting Nevada state government spending to the rate of population growth.

Quote:
“Nevada’s [Margins] tax would be two to four times as large as the Texas levy. The tax is bound to have destructive effects on jobs, job creation and commerce.” – Glenn Cook

Margins tax bigger, badder than Texas

By: Glenn Cook
Las Vegas Review-Journal

Everything is bigger in Texas. Except the taxes.

You’re going to hear a lot about Texas taxes over the next six months, because the Nevada margins tax, Question 3 on the statewide November ballot, is loosely based on the Texas franchise tax. Texas has the second-fastest growing economy in the United States (behind North Dakota), so Question 3 proponents have been aggressive in asserting that a margins tax poses no threat to Nevada’s recovering businesses.

“If it’s done so much damage to Texas, why is their job growth so high and their economy booming? You have to look at Texas as one of the best economic engines the country has,” Question 3 spokesman Dan Hart told the Review-Journal’s Laura Myers last week.

Read More Here

Save the Date

Keystone Annual Dinner

with

Dennis Miller

October 14, 2014

Well known for his conservative political opinions Dennis is a regular political commentator on Fox News Channel’s The O’Reilly Factor. He is a stand up comedian and political commentator as well as a TV & radio personality.

The Venetian
Casino • Hotel • Resort
3355 S. Las Vegas Blvd.
Las Vegas, NV 89109

Download The Table and Sponsorship Information Here
Email to: Info@KeystoneNevada.com
Phone to: 702-952-2456

If you’re having trouble viewing this email, you may see it online.
 

 

 

in Political Update /by webmaster/#permalink
May 13, 2014
13 May 2014

Political Update – May 13, 2014

An Affiliated Nightmare: Part I

A key definition in the margin-tax scheme would have catastrophic impact

By: Geoffrey Lawrence
Nevada Policy Research Institute

Much ado has been made, and will continue to be made, about what is the most important question on Nevada’s 2014 ballot. But one critical aspect of the state teacher union’s proposal to enact a business margin tax has gone virtually unnoticed: the definition of an “affiliated group.”

For the non-accountant, this might sound like a tedious and technical detail, but it could wind up as the most significant aspect of the proposal if the tax becomes law.

As with many business taxes, the margin tax would require business owners who have organized their operations under multiple legal entities to consolidate the finances of each entity onto a single tax filing. This “affiliated group” of firms is then treated as a single entity for tax purposes. For large corporations with multiple subsidiaries — MGM Resorts, for example — this is normally a straightforward operation that causes few problems.

The way that teacher union operatives drafted their proposed margin tax, however, is different. And it would wreak havoc for owners of both small and large businesses.

The problem is how they’ve defined an “affiliated group.”

Union representatives have said their proposal was modeled after the Texas margin tax. In Texas, firms can be considered an “affiliated group” if at least 80 percent of the ownership of each firm is held by the same individual or group of individuals.

For Nevada, however, the union defined an affiliated group as “a group of two or more business entities, each of which is controlled by one or more common owners or by one or more of the members of the group.” (Emphasis added.)

Under this changed definition, firms with only minority ownership in common would be considered an “affiliated group” and forced to file taxes jointly — an administrative nightmare for taxpayers and state tax collectors both.

The only possibly mitigating language is the requirement that the entities are “controlled by” common owners. But here’s how the union proposal defines a controlling interest:

‘Controlled by’ means the possession, directly or indirectly, of the power to direct orcause the direction of the management and policies of a business entity, whether through the ownership of voting securities, by contract or otherwise. (Emphasis added.)

Consider that definition carefully.

Read More Here

 



Keystone’s Mission:

To recruit, support and advocate for candidates for public office who support private sector job creation, low taxation, a responsible regulatory environment, and effective delivery of essential state services.

Keystone’s Goals:
  • To focus on candidate support on state legislative races and the governor’s office.
  • To oppose any form of corporate income taxes or other business taxes that discourage capital investment and therefore job creation.
  • Support limiting Nevada state government spending to the rate of population growth.

Quote:
“The margin-tax initiative that will appear on Nevada’s 2014 ballot defines this term in a way that could force innocent small-business owners into federal prison — through no fault of their own.” Geoffrey Lawrence, NPRI

An Affiliated Nightmare: Part II
Could language in the margin tax send innocent Nevadans to federal prison?
By: Geoffrey Lawrence
NPRI

The phrase “affiliated group” — an admittedly dry term that, until now, has been exclusive to the lexicon of tax accountants — could soon be haunting everyday Nevadans who never held much interest in tax law.

That’s because the margin-tax initiative that will appear on Nevada’s 2014 ballot defines this term in a way that could force innocent small-business owners into federal prison — through no fault of their own.

Such a scenario may sound extreme, but the proposal’s poor drafting, coupled with federal racketeering laws, could bring it about.

Read More Here

Save the Date

Keystone Annual Dinner

with

Dennis Miller

October 14, 2014

Well known for his conservative political opinions Dennis is a regular political commentator on Fox News Channel’s The O’Reilly Factor. He is a stand up comedian and political commentator as well as a TV & radio personality.

The Venetian
Casino • Hotel • Resort
3355 S. Las Vegas Blvd.
Las Vegas, NV 89109

Download The Table and Sponsorship Information Here
Email to: Info@KeystoneNevada.com
Phone to: 702-952-2456

If you’re having trouble viewing this email, you may see it online.
 

 

 

 

in Political Update /by webmaster/#permalink
May 6, 2014
06 May 2014

Political Update – May 6, 2014

Nevada AFL-CIO opposes proposed margins tax to fund public schools

By SEAN WHALEY
 Las Vegas Review-Journal

The Nevada State AFL-CIO on Friday voted to oppose the margins tax measure to fund public education that is on the Nov. 4 general election ballot.

Also known as the Education Initiative, Question 3 would impose a 2 percent business “margins tax” designed to raise an estimated $700 million a year for public schools.

The measure is opposed by many Nevada businesses and elected officials, including Gov. Brian Sandoval. It was put on the ballot by the Nevada State Education Association, which represents teachers...

…“The vote today in opposition to the margins tax initiative is not a vote against education,” he said. “It is a vote against a flawed initiative that will cost many of our members their jobs and raise the cost of living on Nevadans on a fixed income and on citizens that are still struggling to make ends meet after years of a terrible recession.”

Read More Here

 



Keystone’s Mission:

To recruit, support and advocate for candidates for public office who support private sector job creation, low taxation, a responsible regulatory environment, and effective delivery of essential state services.

Keystone’s Goals:
  • To focus on candidate support on state legislative races and the governor’s office.
  • To oppose any form of corporate income taxes or other business taxes that discourage capital investment and therefore job creation.
  • Support limiting Nevada state government spending to the rate of population growth.

Quote:
“The vote today in opposition to the margins tax initiative is not a vote against education,” he said. “It is a vote against a flawed initiative that will cost many of our members their jobs and raise the cost of living on Nevadans.” -Danny Thompson, Executive Secretary treasurer AFL-CIO 

North Las Vegas and Henderson plagued by the same problem

Collective bargaining prevents local governments from reigning in outlandish employee compensation

By: Victor Joecks & Robert Fellner
NPRI 

On the surface, North Las Vegas and Henderson appear to be polar opposites.
North Las Vegas has been making headlines for teetering on the verge of insolvency. Henderson keeps showing up on lists of the best places to live and retire… (Read More)


Reno firefighter bills Reno for Mexican cruise

 By: Anjeanette Damon
RGJ 

The city of Reno is spending thousands of dollars sending firefighters to emergency medical certification training at out-of-state tourist destinations despite the fact the same training is offered in Northern Nevada… (Read More)

If you’re having trouble viewing this email, you may see it online.
 

 

 

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Keystone’s Mission:

To recruit, support and advocate for candidates for public office who support private sector job creation, low taxation, a responsible regulatory environment, and effective delivery of essential state services.

Keystone’s Goals:

To focus on candidate support in state legislative races and the governor’s office.

To oppose any form of corporate income taxes or other business taxes that discourage capital investment and therefore job creation.

Support limiting Nevada state government spending to the rate of population growth.

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