AFL-CIO nixes margins tax

The Nevada AFL-CIO has voted to oppose passage of the teachers’ union margins tax initiative.

Executive Secretary-Treasurer Danny Thompson said the union has always supported funding education.

“There is no equivocation in our support for funding our schools so that our children receive a great education,” he said.

But he said the union’s Committee on Political Action voted to oppose the tax because it is seriously flawed.

“The vote today in opposition to the Margins Tax Initiative is not a vote against education,” Thompson said. “It is a vote against a flawed initiative that will cost many of our members their jobs and raise the cost of living on Nevadans on a fixed income and on citizens that are still struggling to make ends meet after years of a terrible recession.”

If passed by voters in November, the margins tax will impose a 2 percent tax on the gross receipts of all businesses making more than $1 million a year. Opponents point out that many businesses with a large annual gross actually make very little profit and that the tax would be imposed even on businesses that actually lost money in a given year.

Assembly Speaker Marilyn Kirkpatrick, D-North Las Vegas, made similar comments last week in a speech before the Northern Nevada Development Authority, adding that the state, lawmakers and the business community have put off having the conversation about how to fix the tax system for too long.

She said lawmakers and the business community must work together on solutions.

Thompson said the AFL-CIO is committed to work with the Legislature to reform the state tax system so education, mental health, infrastructure and local government can all be properly funded.