The third iteration of the Hollywood Handout – an effort to build a film studio in Las Vegas – died an ignoble death during the just-concluded special session of the Nevada Legislature.
There was strong bipartisan opposition, but I want to focus on three main reasons why conservatives opposed the bill and “Republicans” who claim to be conservative should have voted against it.
First, “DEI.”
The “Diversity, Equity & Inclusion” provisions in the bill were watered down but still remained. DEI is dead – as it should be. No variation had any business in what was being sold as an “economic development” project.
This was a sop to left-wing legislators but a poison pill for Nevadans – especially conservatives – who are tired of playing these discriminatory identity politics games.
If the project’s job creation potential was so great, what did DEI have to do with it? Shouldn’t people be hired based on merit, not race or gender?
Secondly, “project labor agreements.”
A PLA means the construction project is reserved for union, not non-union, labor and was another poison pill for conservatives – especially since union labor is more costly than non-union labor and we’re talking about tax dollars here.
Sens. Jeff Stone and Ira Hansen rightly raised this issue in explaining their opposition to the bill.
If the stated purpose was economic development and job creation, discriminating against non-union workers is something no Republican should have voted for.
And thirdly, “transferable tax credits.”
I know. Your eyes just glazed over. Very complicated thing to understand. But stick with me. I’ll try to simplify.
In Nevada, a “transferable tax credit” is basically a tax coupon that a business earns from the state and is allowed to sell to someone else who actually owes Nevada taxes.
Normally, a tax credit just reduces the taxes of the company that earned it. With a transferable tax credit, the company that earns the credit can either:
* Use it to cut its own Nevada tax bill; or
* Sell the credit to another business, usually at a discount, for cash.
That buyer then uses the credit to reduce what it owes in Nevada taxes (such as modified business tax, certain gaming fees, or other specified state taxes, depending on the program).
Here’s a simple real‑life example of how transferable tax credits work (and if I have any of this wrong, studio supporters, let me know):
Let’s say Netflix sends you a $100 coupon to be used to pay for its streaming service if you would subscribe.
But let’s also say you have no interest in subscribing to Netflix due to its unending “woke” content.
Now, if the coupon was NON-TRANSFERABLE, it would be useless to you because you had no interest in subscribing to Netflix. So throw it away.
BUT…
If the coupon was TRANSFERABLE, here’s what you could do:
Your liberal sister-in-law has Netflix (of course). So you make her a deal: She gives you $50 in cash and then uses your $100 coupon to pay her bill.
You make $50 cash – yippee!
She saves $50 on her next Netflix bill – yippee!
Netflix, however, loses the $100 it otherwise would have gotten from your sister-in-law. Ugh.
In the case of the film studio project, Nevada taxpayers would be Netflix.
If Nevada taxpayers are going to offer tax credits to the film studio project, it should be the film studio project that uses those tax credits – not transfer them to Big Gaming corporations or other entities that would otherwise be contributing to the state’s tax base.
Of course, had film studio proponents negotiated this project with CONSERVATIVES up front, not just Democrats and RINOs (Republicans in Name Only), maybe they could have addressed these points and crafted a bill that conservatives could live with.
But they didn’t.
They figured they could bully this bill through – with discriminatory provisions that had nothing to do with the project’s potential for success – without giving a damn what conservatives thought.
They were wrong. I wonder if they’ve learned their lesson?
