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Pew: NV Gives Big Tax Breaks, But Doesn't Look To See If They're Working

Nevadans know tax incentives. Our state has approved some of the biggest tax breaks in the country to draw businesses here.

Tesla took a $1.25 billion tax break. Faraday Future, which still does not have a car plant in North Las Vegas, is in for $335 million. And there are tax breaks for companies to produce television shows and movies in the state.

Every state in the country does this.

But Nevada is one of only 23 states that does not evaluate how those tax breaks are working. A new report by Pew Charitable Trusts has some serious questions about Nevada’s tax incentive policies.

Josh Goodman, who is an officer with the Pew Charitable Trusts, said it doesn't mean that the tax incentives program in the Silver State are good or bad it just means there is not enough information about the programs to measure results.

“Historically, many states have provided incentives and then really haven’t looked back in a serious way at whether the policies are working well,” he said.

But for the states that have done serious evaluations of tax programs, they've found millions of dollars in savings just from changing small things about the policies. Goodman gave an example of New Mexico, which found companies were claiming tax incentive dollars for jobs that were created long ago and some of those jobs weren't even around anymore. However, under the tax law, claiming those incentives was legal. New Mexico changed the law and gained back millions in tax revenue.

Goodman said doing an evaluation of how well a program is working and if it is really reaching the goals it set out to do isn't about deciding whether to hand out incentive packages but about strengthening the deals already in place.

“We have to make sure we’re getting a good return on our taxpayer dollars and that’s where evaluation is really helping states these days," he said.

Goodman said that while Nevada has not done a good enough job at evaluating the tax incentives it has in place it is starting to gather the data needed and many lawmakers see the need for an evaluation program. 

Josh Goodman, officer, Pew Charitable Trusts

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Joe Schoenmann joined Nevada Public Radio in 2014. He works with a talented team of producers at State of Nevada who explore the casino industry, sports, politics, public health and everything in between.