• 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.

As the November election approaches, so does the Education/Margin Tax Initiative on Nevada’s ballot, a measure that could greatly affect many of Nevada’s agriculturists especially farmers and ranchers in the state.

The Margin Tax Initiative or Question 3 on the upcoming ballot would require any business with gross revenues of more than $1 million to pay a margin tax liability of 2 percent on their entire revenue. The tax revenue would be spent on education in Nevada.

“It is the equivalent of a 14 to 15 percent corporate income tax rate because it’s on gross income; it’s not on net income,” said Karen Griffin, spokesperson for the Coalition to Defeat the Margin Tax Initiative. “This initiative is deeply flawed and costly.”

Griffin explained that although the additional tax revenue would supposedly go to education, the initiative provides no guidelines on how funds should be spent, giving the state the authority to divert funds to another cause.

The Coalition said that the tax initiative could raise between $460 million and $800 million annually, resulting in costly taxes for employers with incomes higher than $1 million.

According to Griffin, the additional tax would also make Nevada one of the five highest taxed states in which to operate, leading to a loss of new businesses and jobs. The Coalition estimates 9,000 jobs will be lost if the initiative passes.

Griffin also explains that the new tax would be especially detrimental to employers that have high overhead costs and small profit margins including agriculture operations, grocery stores, restaurants and other small businesses.

“This is a 2 percent tax on gross revenue and in many cases, that’s more than farmers are making,” Griffin said. “These farms have been in families for generations and now they are looking to have to give up what their families have been working on for years.”

• 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.

CARSON CITY — A low-key but high-stakes campaign is underway to win the hearts and minds of Nevada voters ahead of the general election and a crucial vote on a margins tax to fund public education.

Question 3 on the Nov. 4 ballot, called The Education Initiative, is arguably the most important issue for voters this election year. Although the focus is voter education, money will play an important role in the debate when the campaign intensifies this summer.

Read More Here

The Nevada Policy Research Institute’s annual effort to alert teachers of their right to opt out of union membership from July 1 to July 15 has uncovered something unsettling: The Clark County School District is intercepting and blocking emails sent to teachers, thereby preventing them from learning of their rights.

On June 2, NPRI emailed over 12,000 CCSD teachers regarding their right to leave the union, yet only a nominal amount of emails were opened. In previous years, over 2,000 individuals have opened similar emails. Also, when NPRI asked a sampling of teachers in the district if they had received NPRI’s communications, they had not even though NPRI had sent them an email message.

Based on NPRI’s internal testing and consultation with an external internet provider, evidence shows that the Clark County School District — which has a history of trying to hinder email communication between NPRI and teachers — has blocked NPRI from communicating with its teachers via the public, taxpayer-funded email addresses.

In response to the discovery, NPRI President Andy Matthews issued the following statement

It is outrageous that a government agency would censor communications between teachers and a private group. It also raises First Amendment concerns, because the Clark County Education Association, another private organization, is able to email teachers.

It’s wrong for a government agency to use taxpayer dollars to pick and choose who communicates with government employees.

Communication with a government employee shouldn’t be reserved exclusively for those approved by a government agency.

Over the past two years, over 1,200 teachers in Clark County have left the CCEA as a result of NPRI’s opt-out campaign, and now CCSD is aggressively preventing teachers from being able to make their own decisions about union membership. NPRI’s teacher union opt-out campaign is about providing Nevada educators with the information they need and deserve to make an informed decision.

The fact that CCSD would intentionally intercept emails intended for its employees should be maddening for its teachers and deeply concerning for the public that pays the district’s bills.

• 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.

• Recruiting five people to join our coalition
• Recruiting three businesses/organizations to join our coalition
• Sharing this email newsletter with five business contacts
• Sharing our online business toolkit