‘Awfully high’ sales tax won’t be going up in Clark County

Clark County commissioners briefly considered — and then rejected — a possible countywide sales tax increase to fund services for the homeless population.

The proposal failed to gain traction past a discussion at Tuesday’s County Commission meeting, after three board members said they would oppose advancing it.

Commission Chair Tick Segerblom introduced the item, which called for a sales tax increase of up to 0.125 percent, translating to 1 cent extra tax per $8 purchased within the entire county, including within the county’s incorporated cities.

He withdrew the motion after Commissioners Marilyn Kirkpatrick, Jim Gibson and Michael Naft said they would not support a tax hike, at least not without a detailed plan.

“I personally believe that the people in my district would happily support that, if it meant that we could eliminate the (homeless encampments),” Segerblom said.

The item would have needed several public meetings and discussions before it could have taken effect, but commissioners appeared surprised that the proposal wasn’t discussed before Segerblom placed it on an agenda for possible action.

Trade groups spoke in opposition of a tax increase during the first portion of the commission meeting.

Tax increase authority

When passed in 2019, Assembly Bill 309 allowed Nevada counties to raise their sales tax up to 0.25 percent for specific programs related to issues such as homelessness, affordable housing and early childhood education.

The county exercised half of the authority, raising the sales tax by 0.125 percent starting on Jan. 1, 2020, meaning it can still raise the tax by another 0.125 percent, officials said.

The 2020 tax increase generated an additional $68.5 million the first 18 months. It raised $74.58 million for the fiscal year that ended in 2022 and $80.24 million the following year, according to state figures of tax revenues.

Taxes already ‘awfully high’

Nevada’s sales tax rate of 8.375 percent is already considered high.

Gibson said the county was facing a tax dollar “shortfall” but didn’t provide additional details explaining what that meant.

“At the end of it all, I get that money is short,” he said. “It’s short everywhere, but our sales tax is already awfully high.”

Gibson added: “And there are some who would say — including economists — that it’s already a regressive tax, and we don’t need nor do we want to do anything that makes it more difficult for (taxpayers).”

Kirkpatrick said she was opposed to an increased sales tax Tuesday and “six months from now” until there is an expanded regional plan to address homelessness.

“I’m not sure if we collected the money, what we could do with it in the short term,” Kirkpatrick said.

Naft also said he wanted to see a “thoughtful plan” regarding a possible increase.

“If I believed that a cent on $8 would solve all of the problems that everybody eloquently laid out today, I’d consider it,” he said. “But at this moment in time, I’m not convinced of that. And I think that we’ve got a lot of legwork to do before it should be discussed.”

Contact Ricardo Torres-Cortez at rtorres@reviewjournal.com.