I sat in this morning’s Joint Ways and Means/Finance Committee meeting on the merger between the Nevada Commission on Economic Development and the Nevada Commission on Tourism. The Governor has proposed to merge the two agencies in an effort to balance the budget.
Most of the committee members expressed skepticism of the idea, acknowledging that each of the agencies have very different missions. Lt. Governor Brian Krolicki stepped up to the table to oppose the idea.
The afternoon was spent in Assembly Taxation, where I was pleased to testify in support of two bills.
The first, AB 146, is sponsored by Majority Leader John Oceguera, with strong support from Secretary of State Ross Miller. It would create an online “business portal” operated by Miller’s office that would allow any business in the state to go to one place to take care of all of their license, permit, and tax issues. One website would allow you to take care of all the various state and local agencies that a business must deal with when setting up shop or renewing their operation.
The Majority leader included the Chamber and other business organizations in a working group to work out any issues with the bill prior to the hearing. I cannot speak highly enough of this process, whereby a legislator brings forward an idea and actually puts together a group of stakeholders to work on it. Mr. Oceguera is well-known for doing this and he is to be commended for it.
The second bill that I testified in favor of is AB 275, which has been proposed by Minority Leader Heidi Gansert. This bill would ensure that banks and other financial institutions pay the same Modified Business Tax rate that every other business pays. It would also eliminate the discriminatory branch excise tax imposed on those same institutions.
Currently, most of the business community pays 0.63% of their payroll to the state. Banks, however, must cough up 2% of their payroll AND pay a $7000 per branch excise tax on any branch above one per county.
The Chamber believes that this is horrible tax policy. No industry should be singled-out for extra taxation and we are opposed to any tax per business branch location. No business should be punished for being successful and offering better service to their customers.
Given the general fund hole that the Legislature is staring at, I do not have high hopes for the passage of any bill that would actually decrease taxes. That doesn’t mean we should give up on our principles.
About Our Organization
- The Reno Sparks Chamber of Commerce
- Reno/Sparks, Nevada, United States
- The public policy mission of the Reno Sparks Chamber of Commerce is to shape an environment conducive to business growth, job creation and a high quality of life throughout our community; to support local businesses; to promote member companies, our region and free enterprise; and to advocate for public policies consistent with the economic well-being of the regional business community and superior quality of life standards.
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