Nevada margins tax opponents raise $2.5 million

CARSON CITY —The high stakes battle over a measure that would impose a tax on large Nevada businesses to fund public education has shattered all records for a ballot issue, with opponents to Question 3 reporting nearly $2.5 million in contributions since June.

Contributions to the Coalition to Defeat the Margin Tax Initiative total just under $4 million from the start of the year. The group has spent nearly $3.3 million through Oct. 10, the end date for the contribution and expenses report that will be filed Tuesday with the Nevada secretary of state’s office.

The coalition has spent $2 million on television in opposition to the measure, with another buy of at least $1 million, but up to $2 million, in the works.

The report contrasts sharply with that of the Education Initiative PAC, which reported raising $653,000 since June in the effort to persuade voters to support the margins tax in the Nov. 4 general election. The Education Initiative PAC also reported spending just under $1.1 million since June and $1.5 million in total this year to persuade votes to back the measure to raise an estimated $700 million a year for public education.

All of the money in support of the measure has come from the Nevada State Education Association except for a small amount from the National Education Association.

For opponents, the Las Vegas chamber and the Nevada Resort Association were two of the biggest contributors in the initial reporting period through June, providing more than $500,000 all together to the anti-margins tax effort.

Those efforts were redoubled in the new report, with the chamber contributing more than $500,000, while the resort association put in nearly $400,000.

But money is flowing in from many other businesses as well. Cashman Equipment of Henderson contributed $50,000 in the latest report; Sunrise Hospital and Medical Center put in $165,000. Nevada Power, doing business as NV Energy, contributed $50,000.

Insurance companies are also big contributors. Geico Direct contributed more than $30,000; Liberty Mutual Group, $45,000; CSAA Insurance Exchange, $54,000; and State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Co., $100,000; among many others.

The contribution and spending reports come just days before early voting begins on Saturday.

The amount of money spent overall on the measure is unquestionably the most ever spent on a Nevada ballot question. Two measures on the 2006 ballot to restrict smoking in public places generated spending in the $2 million range, but Question 3 spending has easily exceeded that amount.

The teacher-backed education initiative, which would establish a 2 percent tax on the gross revenue of businesses making more than $1 million, is being funded by the Nevada State Education Association, which gathered signatures in a 2012 petition drive to qualify it for the ballot. Supporters argue that state policymakers have failed to fund public education adequately.

But the measure is opposed by a multitude of business groups and organizations, several unions as well as many elected officials, including Gov. Brian Sandoval.

Opponents have the support of big backers, including the Las Vegas Metro Chamber of Commerce’s political action committee, the Nevada Resort Association PAC and the Nevada Mining Association, among others.

Teachers and business groups are locked in a battle to sway voters on the measure, which would raise the revenue by taxing the state’s largest businesses, about 13 percent of the total. Critics say many small businesses would have to pay the tax as well.

Contact Capital Bureau reporter Sean Whaley at swhaley@reviewjournal.com or 775-687-3900. Find him on Twitter: @seanw801.