After Nevada GOP push, Treasury changed lucrative policy benefiting one county

https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/after-nevada-gop-push-treasury-quietly-changed-policy-benefiting-one-county/2018/06/22/d142acfc-74c5-11e8-b4b7-308400242c2e_story.html?utm_term=.0244293352b9

The Treasury Department last week reversed itself after lobbying by Nevada Republicans and agreed to let a previously ineligible county reap huge benefits from the new tax law.

The effort was led by Nevada’s governor, Brian Sandoval (R), and Sen. Dean Heller (R-Nev.), who separately spoke with Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and pushed for Storey County to win designation as an “Opportunity Zone,” which was established in the law to help distressed areas attract money.

Working behind the scenes to help the effort was a Storey County brothel owner and real estate investor, Lance Gilman, who told local officials that the designation could lead to a surge of investments within the next few years. Gilman is also a major GOP donor and made a $5,000 campaign contribution to Heller in the midst of the process, the biggest contribution he had ever given to a candidate for federal office.

Treasury officials had initially deemed that Storey County’s income levels were too high to qualify, based on the metrics they had used to judge every other nomination for the special tax status. But after weeks of prodding from Nevada officials, Treasury relented and gave the designation to Storey County using new data.