Nevada hotels could pay $8.1B in taxes this year
Nevada is expected to pay some of the highest hotel compensation and hotel-generated tax revenue in 2024, according to new industry report.
Hotels in the Silver State are expected to generate about $8.1 billion in taxes — or $3.7 billion in federal taxes and $4.4 billion in state and local taxes — according to the American Hotel and Lodging Association’s state-by-state comparison of economic impact released on April 8. That’s the third-largest total, behind California and New York.
The state’s industry is also expected to pay out the second-highest total of wages, salaries and compensation this year, at $14.4 billion, according to data from Oxford Economics included in the report. The projected nationwide total is 4.6 percent higher than 2023’s total of $118 billion and more than 20 percent higher since 2019.
In a statement, AHLA leadership said the report’s findings don’t show the challenges obscuring the industry’s growth.
“Historic projections for wage and tax revenue totals point to a strong 2024 for hoteliers,” said Kevin Carey, AHLA’s interim president and CEO. “But our industry is facing significant obstacles to growth. These include the ongoing nationwide labor shortage, stubborn inflation, and a federal regulatory agenda that threatens future economic expansion.”
AHLA said 2023 was a comeback year for hoteliers and higher occupancy rates expected in 2024 are part of the industry’s path to growth. But worker shortages exist amid higher wages nationwide — Bureau of Labor Statistics data show that national average hotel wages were $23.84 hourly in February, but there are 1.36 vacancies for every unemployed person.
In Nevada, there are still an estimated 10.6 percent fewer workers in hotels compared with 2019, according to the AHLA report. It’s even more acute in the Las Vegas Valley: unadjusted BLS data shows there were roughly 15 percent fewer workers in February compared to the same month in 2019.
McKenna Ross is a corps member with Report for America, a national service program that places journalists into local newsrooms. Contact her at mross@reviewjournal.com. Follow @mckenna_ross_ on X.