Letter to the editor from the 2-6-2003 Las Vegas Review-Journal

 

Gross receipts?

To the editor:

I am the owner of a Chevron gas station and convenience store, and I have been a Nevada resident
since 1959. I have also worked in gaming for 20 years, and currently hold a gaming license. I am
very concerned that current lawmakers, the media, casino operators and consultants have failed to
grasp the economic danger that certain increased taxes will create.

Whenever you tax a product or service before there is a net profit, it is equivalent to a sales tax. This
so-called gross receipts tax, however, cannot be collected at the point of sale such as the sales tax, and makes the retailer raise prices to offset this new added tax. The only fair business tax is a tax on net revenues after all expenses are deducted. While this net revenue tax will not generate all of the dollars Nevada needs, it will certainly help.

We should take careful notice that Nevada casinos do not pay a gross receipts tax on money wagered.

Casinos are allowed to deduct all related coin pays and jackpot payouts before paying taxes on money wagered in slot and poker machines. If businesses were proposing a gross receipts tax on money wagered, the casino industry would be just as upset as the business owners.

The gross receipts tax is just not a fair tax. If I continue to see the casino owners and the governor
promote this gross receipts tax on business owners, I will make sure that every business owner insist that the casino owners pay the gross receipts tax at the same rate as the business owners. That will surely kill any proposed legislation concerning the gross receipts tax.

The mining industry in Nevada would also be crippled by any type of gross receipts tax, which is
why this gross receipts tax was defeated in the 1992 Legislature.

Greg Campbell

LAUGHLIN

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