Senate sales tax bill likely won’t include public vote

Larry Henry

Tuesday, May 20, 1997 | 11:59 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- A bill to increase the sales tax is expected to pass out of the Senate later this session but won't include language putting the tax to a public vote, according to key legislators.

A majority of the seven-member Senate Taxation Committee is open to a public vote, but that doesn't seem likely to happen, based on comments from legislative leaders.

"It won't come out of the committee as a vote of the people," said Sen. Mike McGinness, R-Fallon, who chairs the Taxation Committee.

Majority Leader Bill Raggio, R-Reno, indicated he doesn't support a provision requiring a public vote.

"I'm not going to close the door on the issue," Raggio said, "but I'm going to support what the cities and counties want."

Assembly Bill 291 allows counties to raise the sales tax a quarter-cent for growth-related needs. In Clark County, the tax will help complete a second pipe from Lake Mead, allowing the valley's 1.2 million population to double in 20 years. County Commissioner Mary Kincaid said the board supports raising the tax without a public vote.

The Assembly passed the bill last week, 34-7, after earlier rejecting an amendment requiring a public vote. Counties have the option of putting it on the ballot.

Casino lobbyists, who are pushing the sales tax in lieu of increased gaming taxes, don't want a public vote because advertising to persuade voters would be expensive.

That doesn't mean the public-vote issue won't come up in the Senate, where AB291 was introduced Monday. Three members of the Taxation Committee say the idea has merit, and another says his constituents are upset that they're being cut out of the process.

"I've got a lot of constituents who aren't happy about not having a vote of the people," said Sen. Ernie Adler, D-Carson City, who hasn't decided whether to support a public vote.

Sen. Dean Rhoads, R-Tuscaroroa, is one of three committee members who'd rather put the tax on the ballot. "I would prefer it go to a vote of the public," he said.

Sen. Ann O'Connell, R-Las Vegas, has been an outspoken critic of tax increases in past sessions and agrees that voters should have a say.

"That would be my No. 1 preference," she said of the putting the sales tax to a vote.

Sen. Jack Regan, D-Las Vegas, said he won't push for a public vote, but he said, "From a philosophical standpoint, I support all taxes going to a vote of the public."

Two other committee members, Sens. Bob Coffin, D-Las Vegas, and Randolph Townsend, R-Reno, said they wouldn't comment on the tax issue until they've had a chance to study the bill.

McGinness has not set a hearing date. Coffin said he wants at least one of the hearings to be in Las Vegas.

Gov. Bob Miller's press secretary, Richard Urey, said Monday the governor probably would sign a bill authorizing counties to impose a sales tax increase.

Clark, Washoe and Churchill counties pay the highest rate in the state at 7 percent.