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Nevada Casinos Fail In Court Appeal

November ballot asking for three percent tax rise for largest operators to go before voters.

Friday 11th April 2008

Casinos in Nevada could be paying more tax from next year after a teachers union won a ruling last week allowing it to place a motion on November’s ballot.

Former state Supreme Court Justice Miriam Shearing ruled against a plea from the Nevada Resort Association to stop a proposed three percent gaming tax increase being put before the voters. Ruling in the Carson City District Court case, the judge rejected an argument that the revised petition didn’t comply with requirements to avoid putting popular elements alongside those that may be less well liked on the same ballot. Judge Shearing ruled that the new version of the initiative cured the fault that a petition must embrace a single subject because the two elements were ‘functionally related and germane to each other’.

'Certainly imposing an additional gaming license fee and designating the funds for school salaries and student achievement is functionally related to providing an increase in teachers' salaries and improving student achievement,” said Judge Shearing.

The Nevada State Education Authority stated that, if passed by voters, the petition would increase the state's gaming tax for casinos earning more than one million dollars a month by three percent with the money dedicated to public education. This would set the total gross revenue fee for those resorts at 9.75 percent and raise an additional $250 million a year.

Las Vegas Sands Corporation had also filed an unsuccessful petition to block the measure, stating that it interfered with decisions delegated to local school districts, and the Nevada Resort Association is now expected to appeal to the Nevada Supreme Court.

 


Source: OnlineCasinoNews