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Impacts Of The Tax Shift Of 1981: An Examination Of Nevada Local Governments, Philip F. Stoeckinger

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The 1981 Nevada Legislature reduced property tax rates in what is known as the “Tax Shift”, whereby cities and counties received less property tax revenue and more sales tax revenue. Nevada made this change to mirror California Proposition 13, along with over forty states nationwide. Furthermore, the property tax rates that could be levied by local governments were “capped.” Nevada also became the only state to depreciate improvements (buildings) in determining the value of property (Tax Topics, 2001). In doing the preceding, Nevada moved from basing its revenue structure on a stable revenue source (property tax), to an unstable revenue …