sales tax

CARSON CITY – The National Retail Federation has launched a nationwide 60-day campaign to raise awareness among lawmakers and the public on how what it calls a loophole exempting online sales from sales tax is hurting local communities and job creation.

If Nevada’s five-member Congressional delegation is any indication, the group has its work cut out for it, with three members opposed and two supportive of the idea to allow states to tax online sales.

A reader wrote in today asking about the property tax hike the Carson City Board of Supervisors approved unanimously last week. What follows is a breakdown:

The property tax rate will go from $3.1872 to $3.66. If you do the math, that works out to a 13 percent increase. However, state law limits the amount of increase that homeowners have to pay to 3 percent per year, 6.4 percent on commercial properties. They estimate that taxes on average will increase 3 percent next year under this new rate, and account for about $3 million more than they would under the old rate.

CARSON CITY – Three of the Republicans seeking the right to challenge state Democratic Senate Majority Leader Steven Horsford for Nevada’s new 4^th Congressional District seat sought to establish their conservative credentials in a televised debate today.

The Carson City Board of Supervisors this afternoon voted to form a committee whose job it will be to come up with the wording for a ballot question asking voters to approve of the Carson City Center Project, aka Nugget Project.

Because the previous plan for funding the project proved unworkable, the ballot question would ask voters to approve a quarter cent sales tax increase to fund it instead.

Last week it was revealed that the Carson City Board of Supervisors would be considering putting a question on the ballot to approve a quarter-cent sales tax to fund a downsized $28 million City Center Project, aka Nugget Project.

CARSON CITY – Rep. Joe Heck, R-Nev., said today he agrees with his congressional colleague in opposing federal legislation requiring online merchants to levy sales taxes on purchases.

Heck, interviewed on the Face To Face television program, said he agrees with U.S. Sen. Dean Heller, R-Nev., in opposing such legislation in Congress.

It started off with a grand $90 million vision. Then it shrank to $50 million. Now, the Carson City Center Project, aka Nugget Project, looks like it got downsized again, this time to $28 million.

According to the agenda for the May 17 Board of Supervisors meeting, the board will consider directing City Manager Larry Werner to draft a ballot question asking voters to approve a quarter cent sales tax increase to finance the $28 million project.

What got cut? Mainly the parking garage.

Why has the latest version of the City Center project been crafted outside of public view?

The city's recent announcement states the project is now $28 million (excluding interest expense), replacing the $49 million (excluding interest) proposed in September 2011 primarily because the multi-level parking garage has been removed.

The public doesn't know who came up with this abrupt change. However, we do know there were no public meetings about this project shift and the Nugget/City Center Advisory Committee hasn't met since August 2011.

In today's economically stressed environment, it would be quite the political feat to enact any kind of tax increase.

But the backers of the Carson City Center Project, aka Nugget Project, are going to have to hope they can pull off a miracle two-fer.

CARSON CITY – Nevada’s Tax Department could enhance its audit efforts by adhering to its own risk assessment formula for determining which businesses to review for compliance, an audit released today said.

The audit of the agency by the state Division of Internal Audits found that it does not follow its risk assessment results when determining which businesses to analyze for potential tax collections.

CARSON CITY – A consultant hired by the cities of Henderson and Las Vegas to analyze the process used to distribute taxes to the counties and cities told lawmakers today the formula now used to make the allocations has weaknesses.

CARSON CITY – Gov. Brian Sandoval said today that a recent deal announced with Amazon.com to collect sales taxes from on-line purchases in Nevada beginning in January 2014 is only the tip of the iceberg.

CARSON CITY – Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval announced today that the state has reached an agreement with on-line retailing giant Amazon to begin collecting Nevada sales tax on purchases.

The Carson City Library Board of Trustees voted tonight to make a recommendation to the Carson City Board of Supervisors that the City Center Project be put on the ballot in November.

The board voted unanimously to forward the recommendation without a specific funding request, leaving that to the supervisors. Earlier this week, Supervisor Shelly Aldean said they are looking at a possible quarter-cent sales tax increase to fund the City Center Project, aka Nugget Project.

LAS VEGAS — Gov. Brian Sandoval today told conservative business group Keystone Corporation that his decision to support a two-year extension of taxes that were scheduled to expire eliminates the need for any new taxes to balance the state budget.

There are enough nuggets buried inside the Nevada Appeal's follow-up story today on the Carson City Center Project — aka Nugget Project — to keep heads in this town spinning for a week.

CARSON CITY – Nevada’s polices of low taxes and small government ranked it 18^th among states in its ability to compete and grow its economy, according to a report released today by the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC).

CARSON CITY – Nevada’s taxable sales climbed 4.8 percent in January to $3.15 billion, with increases in all major consumer categories except construction, the state Department of Taxation reported today.

It was the 19^th month of taxable sales increases in Nevada and brought the increase for the fiscal year 2012 to date to 7.2 percent. Taxable sales increased by 6.1 percent in Washoe County and 3.5 percent in Clark County in January.

Prior to the Carson City Convention and Visitors Bureau board voting last Monday to continue running the V&T Railway for an additional three years, Project Coordinator Kevin Ray said this:

CARSON CITY – Nevada’s top state administrators gathered together in meeting rooms and via the internet today to hear first-hand about Gov. Brian Sandoval’s initial plans for his 2013-15 budget.

The all-day meeting called “Budget Kickoff” was intended to provide instructions to state administrators on how to begin preparing their spending plans for the new two-year budget that will take effect on July 1, 2013.

CARSON CITY – Gov. Brian Sandoval said today he will propose to extend a package of taxes now set to expire in June 2013 into the next budget to avoid further cuts to education, which he said cannot withstand further reductions.

To maintain a basically flat spending plan for the two-year budget that will begin on July 1, 2013, Sandoval said the modified business tax that was maintained at a higher rate for large businesses in the 2011 legislative session, along with a small increase in the sales tax, must be continued.

CARSON CITY – Nevada ranks at the top of states for its low overall tax liability paid by mature businesses, but only 38^th for new firms due in part to a lack of incentives, according to a new comprehensive study by the Tax Foundation.

The good news is that the V&T Railway is expected to make a profit of $164,132 on their popular Polar Express event for the coming year.

The bad news is the railway's main runs between Eastgate Siding and Virginia City is projected to lose $108,192, even with an expected $67,250 in donations.

The resulting $56,000 in projected profit is almost enough to pay for the $60,000 shortfall in the previous season's sales tax revenue that pays for the bonds that helped rebuild the historic railway. That is a shortfall that is expected to continue and grow larger.

In the three months since the Carson City Board of Supervisors approved the Carson City Center Project (aka Nugget Project), proponents of the project's Knowledge and Discovery Center have been gearing up their fundraising efforts to meet the $21.5 million commitment.

Question: What do Santa, a clown, a platoon of police officers, and coffee have in common?

Answer: They were all at the Wal-Mart service center Friday morning.

The second day of the seventh-annual Holiday With a Hero shopping spree event kicked off at 9 a.m., with the volunteers being fed donuts and coffee. Santa and his Wal-Mart helpers stood prepped to welcome less-fortunate children and help pair them off with volunteers, who would help them spend their complimentary Wal-Mart gift cards.

This is a story that has been flying under the radar for a few months now, told to me in confidential discussions with city officials. But it looks like a newspaper in Twin Falls, Idaho has put the story out in the open, since that community is also vying to land the facility.

"Chobani, a New York-based manufacturer of Greek yogurt, has visited Twin Falls as well as Carson City, Nev., in recent months in its efforts to find a spot for a facility near the West Coast," according to the story.

Carson City's taxable sales jumped a whopping 11.7 percent in August. But Department of Taxation officials say it was a one-time event, caused when auditors discovered $6.69 million in unpaid taxe...

By Li Terrell / South Tahoe Now
Reinvention: We're all in this together.
This is the vision of the proposed Edgewood Tahoe Lodge at Stateline.
The plan by Edgewood Companies is to create a unique world-class destination that delivers significant economic, environmental and community benefits to South Shore Lake Tahoe.  
“That is one of the things that investment can bring to the community, said Patrick Rhamey, vice president of Real Estate for Edgewood Companies. “We have continued to re-invest our property over the years and hope to be a pathway for others to follow.”

For the first time in 10 years, states cut taxes more than they increased them, according to a preliminary report released last week by the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL).
But voters should not draw hasty conclusions about what this means for states’ fiscal health. Most states continued to face substantial budget shortfalls during their 2011 legislative sessions, even though some states saw revenue collections increase.

Although Carson City will move on to the next step in refining the proposed $49.6 million City Center Project, the Board of Supervisors voted Thursday night to not include a 1/8-cent sales tax i...