Regional News

Grant County Assessor Orders Live Nation to Pay "Back Taxes" on Gorge Amphitheater

May 13, 2015

Grant County Assessor Melissa McKnight has recently sent a letter to Live Nation ordering the company to pay "back taxes" on the Gorge Amphitheater near George, Washington.

The letter to Live Nation follows several months of investigation by the Grant County Assessor's office of Gorge Amphitheater property tax records going back many years.

The issue that drew attention to the matter was that recently elected Assessor Melissa McKnight had noticed that Live Nation had been declaring that the Gorge Amphitheater and surrounding properties were "agricultural lands". Consequently, the land was being assessed and taxed at only a fraction of its actual value. As a result, Live Nation owes hundreds of thousand dollars in "back taxes" to Grant County and other taxing districts.