Chronic complaint

1968 The Amount and Source of State Taxes in Nevada by Robert Rieke reported that Nevadans, while taxed less than other states, were also less fairly taxed.

1976 In a Western Kentucky University study commissioned by Oregon Tax Research, Nevada was in the top five of states with regressive tax systems. Oregon's lack of a sales tax was cited as a major factor in its relatively fair tax burden.

1991 Citizens for Tax Justice released a list of states that taxed the poorest 20 percent at three to five times the rates paid by the richest one percent, plus middle-income families at two to three times the rate applied to the richest families. Nevada led the list. In addition, Nevada was one of seven states that had recently cut taxes on the rich while raising taxes on lower income groups. Nevada, Wyoming and Alaska were listed as having the lowest taxes on the rich.

1999 Chico State analyst Robert Morin: Nevada is characterized “by low levels of service provision, consistent under-estimation of revenues, over reliance on two primary sources of revenue (sales and gaming taxes), and the potential for fiscal problems linked to the state's population growth.”

2002 Neon Metropolis by Hal Rothman “Regressive taxation meant that the state sloughed off responsibility and handed it over to the counties. … Even in the best of times, government in Nevada is ineffectual and parsimonious, a handmaiden to power. The state's odd tax structure, simultanously invisible and poerfully regressive, is one of the primary culprits. … Nevada's notoriously regressive tax system is likely to stay that way.”

2003 Governing magazine reported that Nevada's tax system “hits low income residents hardest.”

2009 The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy reported that Nevada's tax system is the nation's eighth most regressive.

2011 Census figures indicated the tax rate in Nevada for people making $25,000 is about twice as high as those making $150,000.=