(DOGE Nevada Staff) – Nevada has a billion-dollar problem that nobody in Carson City seems eager to fix.
For years, the state has allowed Nevada’s uncollected taxes to pile up on the books – money that legally belongs to the people of Nevada but never makes it into the state treasury.
It doesn’t matter who’s in charge; the state keeps making excuses while the hole keeps growing.
The Billion-Dollar Hole
The latest figures from the Nevada Controller’s Office show more than $1.5 billion in unpaid accounts. Nearly $400 million in uncollected taxes and fees are considered “uncollectible”.
The Department of Taxation is responsible for the largest share, but it’s not alone. Corrections, Employment, Training and Rehabilitation, and other agencies have huge sums sitting unpaid.
Instead of aggressively going after those debts, most agencies send out a few letters and then pass the problem to the Controller’s Office. The Controller, in turn, contracts out some accounts to collection agencies, but little progress is made.
The Burden of Nevada’s Uncollected Taxes on You
To put the scale of Nevada’s uncollected taxes in perspective, here’s what a billion dollars could pay for:
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800 new police officers in Clark County to improve public safety.
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Thousands of new classroom teachers to lower Nevada’s worst-in-the-nation student-teacher ratios.
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Road repairs across rural Nevada, where crumbling highways hurt small towns.
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Expanded rural healthcare access, including more clinics and mobile units.
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Debt relief for the state, reducing the need for future tax hikes.
Year after year, this money is left on the sidelines. Families are told “we don’t have enough funds” while billions in unpaid taxes are ignored.
Instead, the money sits in reports. And those reports don’t even come out quickly. The annual Receivables Report isn’t published until four months after the fiscal year ends. By the time Nevadans learn how much in back taxes is owed, the numbers are already out of date.
How Nevada Got Here
Nevada’s uncollected taxes didn’t appear overnight. The problem has been growing for decades.
The law on the books, NRS 353C.220, only requires agencies to send a few letters before handing debts to the Controller’s Office. After that, the process slows down, and little gets done. Even worse, the Controller only issues its annual report months after the fiscal year ends, leaving taxpayers in the dark.
This cycle of delay and denial has allowed Nevada’s uncollected taxes to pile up into the billions. Without accountability, state agencies have no reason to act quickly – and taxpayers are left footing the bill.
No Accountability
Why has this gone on so long? Because there are no consequences. Agencies are slow to report unpaid accounts, and the Controller’s Office admits it.
But Chief Deputy Controller James Smack has refused to ask lawmakers for tighter laws that would actually fix the problem. The result is predictable: Nevada’s uncollected taxes pile higher every year, while politicians point fingers and hope no one notices.
What Critics Say
Defenders of the current system argue that some debts are impossible to collect, especially when businesses go under or residents move away. Fair enough.
But that doesn’t explain the lack of urgency in chasing down the debts that can be collected – or cleaning up the books so taxpayers know what’s real and what’s not.
If an ordinary Nevadan ignored a tax bill the way state agencies ignore these accounts, the IRS would be at their doorstep. Yet the state itself plays by a different set of rules when it comes to collecting its own money.
Nevada’s Uncollected Taxes: What Needs to Happen
This is not a bookkeeping glitch. It’s a scandal. Nevada leaders have allowed this issue to snowball into a billion-dollar shortfall, and taxpayers are the ones paying the price.
It’s long past time for the Governor, the Controller, and the Legislature to treat this money like it matters – because it does. Nevada can’t afford another year of delay, denial, and debt.
Until real reforms happen, the pile of Nevada’s uncollected taxes will only grow larger, and hardworking taxpayers will keep getting shortchanged.
This article was originally published to DOGENV.com on 9/22/2025. The opinions expressed by contributors are their own and do not necessarily represent the views of Nevada News & Views.
