Monday, September 19, 2005
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

GOVERNOR'S RACE: Tax plans get mixed reception

Candidates question initiatives

Proponents of two proposed ballot initiatives seeking to limit government revenue say a groundswell of support is building for their measures.

But that mood is largely missing among those seeking to be Nevada's next governor.

Just one of the six expected candidates definitively supports the Tax and Spending Control proposal. And none supports the Proposition 13-style proposal to cap property taxes.

The separate initiatives have similar goals. TASC would cap government spending to increases in population growth plus inflation, with any surplus refunded to residents. The Property Tax Restraint Initiative would prohibit property taxes from rising higher than the increase in inflation or 2 percent, whichever is lower.

"This is an initiative of the people, and a lot of times the politicians don't want to do the will of the people," said Cliff Nellis, chairman of We The People Nevada, which is promoting the property tax initiative.

The TASC initiative, sponsored by state Sen. Bob Beers, has been criticized by state government budget officials and the political establishment.

"I'm not the avid fan of TASC that I am because it appears to be popular," said Beers, one of three announced Republican candidates for governor. "I am an avid fan of TASC because we've got to get a handle on the growth and spending."

Petitioners must gather 83,157 signatures on each of the initiatives to qualify for the 2006 ballot. If the measures qualify and pass, they must also pass in 2008 before the constitution can be amended and the new language can be adopted.

But though they may share ballot space with the measures, most candidates won't be sharing their enthusiasm.

On the Republican side, Beers is the only of three announced candidates who said he will sign the TASC petition and vote for it if it qualifies.

"I believe that getting TASC passed in Nevada is more important than who is governor," Beers said.

Rep. Jim Gibbons, the father of the successful initiative requiring a two-thirds majority vote in the Legislature on any tax increase, would not definitively pledge support for TASC.

"I can't say one way or another based on these (proposals), but I've always stood for ... the underlying philosophies of these initiatives," he said. "People expect government to grow as population grows."

Gibbons said a more specific opinion would be forthcoming when he has a chance to examine the initiatives' language.

"I'm just like every other voter and taxpayer in the state of Nevada," Gibbons said. "I want to make sure that government does not overburden me as a taxpayer, but I also want to be sure we can fund our schools."

Lt. Gov. Lorraine Hunt described herself as a fiscal conservative and said she preferred to root out government waste, and cut spending, from within the system.

"Sometimes things look like a panacea and they're not," Hunt said. "If we would do anything to hamstring government, it wouldn't be beneficial.

"Maybe the simple way is not to change the constitution but to change the Legislature. People have that right every two years."

The Democratic candidates specifically opposed TASC.

Assembly Speaker Richard Perkins said Nevadans should be wary of TASC because it mirrors Colorado's Taxpayer Bill of Rights law, which that state's voters are being asked to amend.

"When you've got the Republican governor of Colorado running around the state asking voters to suspend their TABOR law, and they're talking about privatizing their higher ed system because they can't afford it, it shows it's one of those things that would have a significant negative impact on public safety and education in Nevada," Perkins said.

Perkins also said Nevada lawmakers have done what they can to rebate surplus money.

"It's pretty obvious that we showed fiscal restraint here in Nevada when we had a $300 million bipartisan tax rebate," Perkins said of this year's legislative action.

Senate Minority Leader Dina Titus, D-Las Vegas, voted against Beers' proposal when it came up in a Senate committee this year.

"It doesn't do anything about waste. It just puts a cap on existing spending," Titus said. "There are portions of the population that grow at different rates and need more revenue. This doesn't provide any flexibility."

Titus also said that although the TASC initiative may qualify for the ballot, she expects a coalition of "sensible folks" to oppose it.

A spokesman for Henderson Mayor Jim Gibson said the expected candidate would not comment on specific issues until he formally enters the race and studies the initiatives.

Beers came the closest of any of the candidates to endorsing the property tax initiative, saying passage of TASC would have more widespread impact.

"I think it's far more important that we pass TASC," Beers said. "I think the California experience (with Proposition 13) is that by just capping one of the numerous sources of tax funds, a government bound and determined to expand at the expense of its people will just find different taxes to increase or new taxes to float."

Gibbons said he had not seen the property tax language, although the citizens' group filed the petition with the secretary of state's office Sept. 1.

"You want to make sure that we do no harm to those people who depend on needed government services that have no other means by which to obtain them," Gibbons said. "There has to be a reasonable approach."

Hunt said she would have preferred it if the 2005 Legislature capped property taxes equally for businesses and homeowners at 3 percent. But Hunt said she opposes the initiative.

"I don't think California is a good model in any shape or form for our policies," Hunt said. "Sometimes in our rush to judgment, we want to rush and fix something, but it doesn't always have that effect."

Hunt, like Beers, said government will find a way to make up the revenue.

On the Democratic side of the aisle, Perkins called both initiatives "failed examples from another state." He said specifically that he wouldn't support the property tax initiative, because it would be harmful to rural Nevada and would keep Nevada behind the rest of the nation in education and health care and social indices.

"I think that Nevadans want their government to do what it is supposed to do -- keep people safe and educate them -- and we won't have the tools to do those things if one or both of these initiatives pass," Perkins said.

Titus proposed a property tax freeze during the 2005 Legislature to enable lawmakers to study a more permanent solution to the problem of rising property values. She said she supports the 3 percent cap that passed.

"I think that we worked hard to get a good compromise proposal," Titus said.

She added that what the Proposition-13 initiative offers "is not much less than the 3 percent cap we put in place; it's a move toward inflexibility for government."