Friday, Oct. 30, 2015 | 12:28 p.m.
CARSON CITY — State Controller Ron Knecht hopes for an early court ruling on a lawsuit to stop a referendum seeking repeal of Gov. Brian Sandoval’s commerce tax, which is expected to bring in more than $120 million over two years.
Knecht said the suit, filed late Thursday, was ridiculous and his backers were waiting to gather the 55,234 signatures needed to put the repeal question to the voters on the November 2016 election ballot.
The suit was filed by the Coalition for Nevada’s Future, which won an initial court victory to stop a referendum seeking the repeal of $1.3 billion in new taxes approved by the 2015 Legislature.
Knecht said today he has not yet received a copy of the lawsuit.
Matt Griffin, an attorney for the coalition, filed the suit to block the repeal in Carson City District Court shortly before 5 .p.m. Thursday. Repealing the commerce tax would force the state into a budget deficit, he said.
The referendum is invalid, according to Griffin, because it does not tell the voters how the tax revenue would be replaced. It also does not inform the public what services would be reduced if the tax was repealed, he said.
The lawsuit asks the court to order Secretary of State Barbara Cegavske to reject the referendum petition.
The tax would impose a variable rate on businesses that gross more than $4 million a year. The first collections would be next summer. Even those companies that gross less than $4 million would have to file a tax return.
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