Former foes now working together for taxes

What a difference two years make!

During the 2013 legislative session, then-Senate Minority Leader Michael Roberson, R-Henderson, denounced a proposal from then-Assembly Speaker Marilyn Kirkpatrick, D-North Las Vegas, who was trying to reform the convoluted, exemption-ridden live entertainment tax.

Kirkpatrick wanted to expand the tax to a host of activities that are currently exempt, and she was quite thorough: Under her plan, people would have been taxed if they went to the movies, played miniature golf and regular golf, bowled, skied or swam, visited a strip club (if it charged an admission fee) or even worked out at the gym.

“It’s a policy that gets rid of exemptions,” Kirkpatrick said at the time, according to the Las Vegas Sun. “It’s about the policy, not about the money. It’s about collecting what we set out to collect in 2003. Everything’s in.”

But to Roberson, the tax was simply ridiculous: He denounced it as the “family fun tax” and said it was weak tea compared with his unconsummated offer to impose a $600 million tax on the state’s mining industry. (In fact, it was Roberson who championed a previously Democratic effort to amend the state constitution to remove a cap on the net proceeds of minerals tax, an effort that fell short in November’s election.)

Roberson had even harsher words for then-Senate Majority Leader Mo Denis, D-Las Vegas, who suggested an increase in the modified business (payroll) tax: “I had great hopes things would be different this session,” Roberson said, according to the Review-Journal. “I thought we could buck the trend of Washington-style partisan politics and work together on reasonable solutions. Expanding the tax on payroll is no way to help a struggling economy.”

But that was then, and this is now.

On Friday, Roberson (now state Senate majority leader) heaped a bit of praise on Kirkpatrick (now Assembly minority leader) as she came before his Revenue and Economic Development Committee to present a revised version of her live entertainment tax reform plan alongside appointed Republican state Sen. Mark Lipparelli, R-Las Vegas. There are no finer legislators in the building than Kirkpatrick and Lipparelli, Roberson said.

And, he added earnestly, this is the year the Legislature will reform the live entertainment tax.

It’s not just politics: Roberson also praises Kirkpatrick in private, evidencing a genuine respect for his Democratic colleague. Kirkpatrick, in turn, has developed a reputation for bipartisan comity, too. In fact, Kirkpatrick worked with majority Republicans this year when they proposed rules to govern a possible mid-decade redistricting, and they passed out of the Assembly unanimously. In the Senate, Minority Leader Aaron Ford, D-Las Vegas, objected, resulting in a party-line vote.

Kirkpatrick acknowledged to the Revenue and Economic Development Committee that she’d “taken it on the chin” last session over the live entertainment tax, glancing up at her 2013 tormentors, Roberson and Sen. Ben Kieckhefer, R-Reno, a committee member. There were chuckles all around.

This time, she said, many of the “family fun” items that were in the 2013 version of the tax are gone. But a lot of events now exempt from the tax should be included, Kirkpatrick said, including nightclubs with pricey bottle service, NASCAR races, the Electric Daisy Carnival and Burning Man. They are discretionary luxuries, she said, suggesting a new name for the old tax.

The Roberson-Kirkpatrick alliance — while grist for the disaffected conservatives who consider Roberson an apostate — is a fascinating dynamic to watch. Not only does it buttress his claims that he’s a moderate, pragmatic leader who can work across the aisle, it serves to isolate and put pressure on Senate Democrats, who thus far have shown they’re not quite ready to play along with the majority party. It serves Kirkpatrick as well, giving her a chance to influence legislation sought by the majority and perhaps mitigate some elements that Democrats find most offensive.

Two years ago, who’d have guessed two lawmakers who had traded majority/minority status and fought each other so vigorously would be working together to pass revenue reform?

Steve Sebelius is a Las Vegas Review-Journal political columnist who blogs at SlashPolitics.com. Follow him on Twitter (@SteveSebelius) or reach him at 702-387-5276 or ssebelius@reviewjournal.com.