What does the tax plan do?

The tax package: Doubles the Modified Business Tax for large businesses from

0.63 percent of payroll to 1.17 percent, adds .035 percent to the sales tax,

raising the base Nevada sales tax to 6.85 percent, doubles the business

licensing fee to $200 a year for businesses located in Nevada and extends

the automobile registration depreciation schedule dedicating the added money

to the General Fund, among other changes. It is projected to raise $781

million over the biennium.

The Appropriations Act sets out how the majority of General Fund money will

be spent over the biennium. Totals $3.88 billion.

The Authorizations Act spells out how the vast majority of non-General Fund

money, primarily federal money, will be spent. Includes Highway Fund money.

Totals about $12 billion.

K-12 education bill funds the per-pupil Distributive School Account, special

education, remediation programs, the Regional Professional Development

program and Class Size Reduction. Totals $2.799 billion for the biennium.

Public Employee pay bill sets out how public employees will be paid.

Includes an overall 4.6 percent decrease in public worker pay for the coming

biennium. State workers will take the reduction in the form of 12 unpaid

furlough days each year. Unclassified workers also take the reduction.

Public school employees must work out how to achieve the reduction with

their individual school boards. University professional employees must do

the same.

The Public Employee Retirement System changes which reduce the rate workers

accrue retirement benefits from 2.67 percent a year to 2.5 percent and make

other changes to benefits provided existing employees and retirees. The

Public Employee Benefits Program changes, designed to save about $50 million

over the biennium, are expected to be added to the PERS legislation.

The so-called business portal plan creating a "one stop shop" for businesses

coming to Nevada to become registered and licensed. It also imposes the

annual $200 business license fee contained in the tax package on businesses

that are registered with the Secretary of State but do not have a physical

location in Nevada. No hard estimate of the money generated is available.

There are also several other measures containing tax and fee changes on the

governor¹s desk.