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Assembly GOP plan coming today
Here's what it will do, sources say: Increase of MBT (payroll tax) rate to 1.56, from 1.17. Eliminate health care deduction for employers, which will put $32 million into state coffers. This will be controversial. (Watch for gaming volcano -- a real one, not the one at The Mirage.) Business License Fee will go from $200 to $300 for most employers, $500 for some. Total is estimated at $60 million above governor's $7.3 billion budget, but remember: There are more than $100 million in holes in that budget thanks to tax credits. (Thanks, Elon.)
Poll: Hambrick recall has little chance, "no new taxes" pledge is a waste
A survey commissioned by a PAC tied to Gov. Brian Sandoval finds good news for Speaker John Hambrick and bad news for the GOP Ass. Caucus/Citizen Outhouse wing of the Republican Party. The Nevada Jobs Coalition, which helped take the state Senate, commissioned the survey by the well-regarded Tarrance Group. The findings are devastating for the Just Say No Caucus.
Anthony keeps switching messages; turnout low, Democratic
UPDATED, 2:45 PM: Now Her Honor has a new ad, with an endorsement from a former first lady. After two days of early voting, if Las Vegas Councilman Stavros Anthony expected a high GOP turnout to fuel an upset, it's not happening.
Anti-tax gadfly forms PAC, running ads against "The Sandoval Tax"
One day after he advocated for his tax plan, Gov. Brian Sandoval is under assault on Northern Nevada talk radio for "strong-arming" his plan and keeping it secret from voters during the campaign season. The ad, attached here, is paid for by Stop the Sandoval Tax PAC, registered Wednesday by Todd Bailey. Bailey likes to call himself "Todd Taxpayer" and has roamed the hallways in Carson City for years, once failing in a run for the Assembly.
Assembly GOP tax plan to drop Monday
Assembly Republicans have crafted a tax plan that is a hybrid of the business licesne fee component used by the govervor and an expansion of the payroll tax plan sought by some business types, sources confirm. The plan is expected to drop Monday, the deadline for committee bill introductions. One GOP assemblyman told me the governor's plan has trouble because "I campaigned against gross receipts." That's ar eference to the governor's plan, based on businesses' gross receipts, and the teachers' margin tax, very different but also based on gross receipts.
Goodman goes negative on Anthony
And "Ralston Live" makes its debut in a political ad campaign, the race for Las Vegas mayor:
Trend or blip? GOP cuts Clark gap by more than 8,000 voters
It happens every year -- thousands of voters knocked off the active rolls in Clark County because they have not cast ballots in several cycles and cannot be found. It usually disproportionately hurts the Democrats, who have more transient voters -- and this month is no different: At the end of February, Democrats had a 109,000-vote edge in Nevada's most populous county; as of today, it's about 101,000. That's because the GOP lost only 13,500 voters in the so-called purge while the Democrats lost about 22,000.
Taxpayers association: Please call it a BLT, not a BLF
I have been calling it the Business License Tax since it was released by the governor. Why? 1. Because it is a tax. 2. Because BLT is acronymically funnier. Now tax maven Carole Vilardo has revealed she agrees at the top of a line-by-line explanation of the tax bill that will have its first hearing Wednesday:
"Women, Weapons & Wine"
Ah, Nevada. No open-toed shoes or blouses without collars. Why? "Hot brass is not fun." You can buy the rifle package or the machine-gun package. Get ready you anti-Nevadan Bloombergians!
Democrats present agenda for Session '15
I wrote about it Sunday. And today the Carson City Democrats presented their blueprint for Nevada. Will it ever get off the pages? It's attached here.