Nevada: New SAA Revenue Stream from Entertainment Tax

Thanks to recently enacted legislation, the Nevada Arts Council (NAC) will benefit from an additional $150,000 each year in dedicated revenue from the state’s live entertainment tax (LET). Introduced to “clean up” existing LET laws, S.B. 266 was monitored by Nevada advocates for amendments that would affect nonprofit arts organizations. In a legislative session challenged by state needs resulting from years of recessionary budgets and by a change of legislative leadership, the arts advocacy effort concentrated on a legislative match to Governor Brian Sandoval’s proposed $150,000 increase to NAC’s budget. As the LET bill took shape in the last two weeks of the session, an extremely targeted advocacy effort resulted in the passage just hours prior to sine die of the version that includes the revolving NAC allocation. NAC is working on the regulatory details of the new revenue stream with the Nevada Budget Division as well as the Department of Tourism and Cultural Affairs, NAC’s parent agency. For more information on this rare example of a state arts agency earning committed revenue from an entertainment/admissions tax and the advocacy efforts that led to it, contact NAC Executive Director Susan Boskoff.