Governor: Petitions on taxes are divisive

Jace Radke and Cy Ryan

Thursday, March 16, 2000 | 11:18 a.m.

Gov. Kenny Guinn is not ruling out new taxes, but he wants the teachers union and state Sen. Joe Neal to drop their initiative petitions.

Guinn suggested Wednesday that opposing groups get together to talk about the state's needs and the tax resources available. His speech to the Nevada Taxpayers Association did not rule out new taxes.

"Everything is on the table," Guinn's press secretary, Jack Finn, said this morning.

The governor first wants to complete his review of state government and the long-range forecast of tax revenues before beginning his talks, Finn said.

The first state economic forum is May 4-5 in Las Vegas, and the first report from a Guinn-appointed task force on government efficiency is due next week.

The Nevada State Education Association and Neal, D-North Las Vegas, declined Guinn's invitation to scrap their petitions. They said they are taking their plans to the voters -- the most democratic approach.

In his speech Wednesday Guinn said that individual efforts to independently decide what Nevada's priorities should be is not the right way to address the needs of the state.

"You've got groups who might not see the whole picture," Guinn said. "That's why if we can pull everyone together, we can decide on what the priorities are."

In his speech, Guinn said the initiative petitions tear apart the state because they pit groups against each other, but Kenneth Lange, executive director of the teachers' association, and Neal disagree.

"We're here with a solution," Lange said. "If there is something else, let's put it on the table. Let's get away from the inflammatory rhetoric and into problem solving."

Neal said he would be willing to talk but said he is confident his petition will succeed.

"The only way the governor can short-circuit this thing," Neal said, is to call a special session of the Legislature and enact his plan to increase the taxes by 80 percent on the more than 100 top casinos in this state.

Both the teachers association, which represents about 90 percent of the teachers in the state, and Neal said there would be no giving up on the petitions.

To have a chance at succeeding, an initiative petition must have the signatures of 44,009 registered voters, including 10 percent of the voters in 13 of the 17 counties.

The petition would be presented to the 2001 Legislature, which would have to approve or reject it in the first 40 days of the session. If the Legislature votes it down or changes it, the petition would go on the 2002 election ballot.

The teachers petition, which is expected to be unveiled in the next two to three weeks, calls for a net-profits tax of 3 percent to 5 percent on all businesses. All of the proceeds would go to public schools.

Lange said if the businesses passed this on to the consumer, it would mean a family with an income of $50,000 would be paying $7 more a year.

Neal's plan calls for 45 percent of the added tax to go to public schools; 38 percent would be used to reduce the motor vehicle privilege tax paid by Nevadans; pay raises would be given to Nevada Highway Patrol officers and employees of the state Gaming Control Board and there would be money for a program to help those addicted to gambling.

Lange objected to the governor calling the initiative petition a divisive maneuver, saying that the union has presented a "rationale solution and we don't believe we have unnecessarily polarized the environment."

Lange did concede that any talk of taxes leads to hot debate.

Neal called Guinn "way off base" because the initiative petition gives the public a chance to do something when the Legislature fails to act.

Neal's petition would boost the present 6.25 percent tax on gross revenue of big casinos to 11.25 percent. He introduced a bill in the 1999 Legislature to raise the rate to 8.25. But neither Guinn nor the gaming industry was willing to talk to him about a compromise.

"We put the 2 percent on the table in the Legislature, and they (the gaming industry) turned thumbs down," Neal said. "In his conversation with the gamers, he (Guinn) tells them about the needs, but he does not tell them what they should put up. We tell them (the gaming industry) what they should put up."

Guinn said he has not been in contact with Neal about dropping the petition, but he said he has talked with the teachers association.

"I don't really have a confidence level yet about whether or not the petitions will be dropped, but generally people will come to the table and talk if asked," Guinn said.

Lange said Guinn's remarks Wednesday were more intense than in the past in his opposition to the tax plans.

"We would have rather heard the governor talk about solutions rather than be against the petition," Lange said.

Guinn said in a Wednesday interview on POV, Las Vegas 1's talk show, that it has been his experience that initiative petitions are not good government.

"In the last 35 years I've seen plenty of these initiatives, and I've always said it's not a good idea to set taxes by petition because it doesn't allow for priorities to be set," Guinn said.