Four finalists in race to study state tax system

CARSON CITY -- A legislative panel Thursday recommended four consultants as finalists to conduct a study on Nevada's tax structure.

Moody's Analytics, which submitted a bid of $253,000, was ranked as the top choice by all eight members of a group of lawmakers.

Willdan Financial Services was second, followed by The Nevada Consultants Inc. and the University of Nevada, Reno's Center for Regional Studies.

Eight bids were received in all, from $32,000 submitted by Bill Robinson, a professor at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, to nearly $910,000 submitted by the UNR center.

Senate Minority Leader Bill Raggio, R-Reno, chairman of the group and a backer of the study, which was approved by the 2009 Legislature, said that while tax studies have been done in the past, they have come under fire from critics because of credibility issues.

The Legislature authorized a new study as the first step in seeking ways to try to meet a projected $2.4 billion deficit 2011.

"It's certainly timely that we have an analysis not only of our revenue structure but of what we're not doing," Raggio said.

"We're never going to silence the critics," he said, but he urged caution when awarding a contract to protect the integrity of the findings.

Raggio said the UNR proposal, while outstanding in its scope, is cost prohibitive.

And he expressed concerns that its results would be perceived as "self-serving" because higher education is funded by the state.

The panel's recommendations will be forwarded to an Interim Finance Committee subcommittee for review, and representatives from the top four recommendations will be invited to make detailed presentations.

The state Board of Examiners earlier this week voted 2-1 to approve $500,000 from the Legislature's contingency fund to pay for the study.

Republican Gov. Jim Gibbons, chairman of the board, which also includes Secretary of State Ross Miller and Attorney General Catherine Cortez Masto, voted against the funding request.

Miller and Masto, both Democrats, approved it.

The Interim Finance Committee is not bound by that amount and can spend more or less, depending on the contract it awards.