Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Suit filed to stop Nevada tax repeal effort

Brian Sandoval

Cathleen Allison / AP

Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval presents his proposed business license fee plan to lawmakers at the Legislative Building in Carson City on Wednesday, March 18, 2015.

A group that supports Gov. Brian Sandoval’s $1.1 billion tax increase filed a lawsuit today to block efforts to repeal the law.

The Coalition for Nevada’s Future submitted its petition to the district court less than an hour before the 5 p.m. deadline.

The We Decide Coalition, whose members are unhappy with the tax over the next two years, has launched a referendum drive to gather 55,234 signatures to put the issue on the 2016 ballot. The names must be submitted before June 21 to qualify.

The group is headed by Chuck Muth, president of Citizen Outreach, a conservative group based in Las Vegas. He could not be reached for comment.

Lawmakers, at the urging of Sandoval, passed the legislation that extended expiring taxes, raised the cigarette tax and imposed a business tax based on gross revenue.

The suit asks the court for a permanent injunction to declare the referendum petition invalid because it includes more issues than are allowed by law.

In addition, the suit says the language in the tax repeal referendum is “inaccurate and misleading “and “does not adequately inform the voters of the effect” if the repeal is passed.

Most of the new money will primarily fund K-12 education initiatives focused on at-risk students.

The We Decide Coalition has time to answer the injunction request, and a hearing will be held in district court.

Sandoval has already announced his opposition to the tax repeal effort.

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