Steve Wynn has even redefined the calendar. He may take a full year's tax break on a work displayed just eight months. SB 521 also applies retroactively to pieces Wynn purchased as long as two years before the Bellagio gallery opened. Give this damned thing a little time and creative casino accountants will redefine everything down to toothpicks as tax-deductible masterpieces. The Wynn art tax loophole will drive public budgets to a breaking point.
Casinos already pay a rapidly decreasing share of state taxes.
Last year, the gambling tax dropped to fourth behind the sales tax. It got back roughly a third, and perhaps more, in subsidies and loopholes. Redefining everything with a logo on it as artwork will widen the corporate welfare hemorrhage. Cities and counties are increasingly unable to pay the costs of growth stimulated by gambling expansion. Localities are forced to saddle taxpayers with ever-higher fees and property taxes for necessities like parks, roads, police and fire protection.