In the Las Vegas Sun:

Several chief executives of the state's largest casino companies called on Republican Gov. Jim Gibbons to drop his no-new-taxes pledge and balance the budget as they faced a ballot initiative that would raise the taxes on gambling revenues.

MGM Mirage Inc. chief executive Terry Lanni said casino companies have been targeted unjustly. The company operates 10 resorts on the Strip and is building the massive $7.8 billion CityCenter development.

"Any economist will tell you that it's bad government to rely on one industry," Lanni said. "My view is simple; all businesses that we have here -- bankers, retailers, auto dealers -- have to participate. Whether we're ranked 47th in education, 48th or 49th, whatever the number is, that's not a good rate and something needs to be done about it."

The Nevada State Education Association has put forth a ballot initiative that would add another 3 percentage points to the tax on gambling revenues collected by Nevada's biggest casinos, those that gross more than $1 million a month.

It would raise the taxes for such companies to 9.75 percent, and generate more than $200 million a year to fund the state's schools.

The 6.75 percent rate is the lowest rate in the world and a rise of 3 percent would still be the lowest tax rate in the world. Higher rates haven't deterred these casino corporations from flocking to Macau where the tax rate on gaming is 50 percent. Rather, casinos want others to take a hit, and while casinos blame a reliance on a one industry economy for them being a target of taxes, they are the ones who have bought the goverenors and legislators who have promoted their one industry economy. As long as they make obscene profit on "taking money for nothing" in a service industry, casinos actually have no interest in the fact that Nevada has managed to fall behind perennial education "powerhouses" such as Arkansas, Louisiana, and Mississippi.