Tax panel plans LV hearing on teachers initiative

Tuesday, Feb. 27, 2001 | 10:58 a.m.

Saturday, 10 a.m.

Sawyer State Office Building, 555 E. Washington Ave.

CARSON CITY -- The Assembly Taxation Committee will hold a hearing in Las Vegas on the initiative petition to impose a business profits tax to support the public schools.

The hearing doesn't necessarily mean the tax will ever come to a vote, however.

"There is no appetite to pass it at this second," said Assemblyman David Goldwater, D-Las Vegas, who is chairman of the taxation committee.

The committtee has already held two hearings in Carson City.

Goldwater said he and other legislators have received numerous calls, letters and e-mails from Southern Nevada residents on the proposed initiative. So he wants to give those in Clark County a chance to have their say.

The hearings, he said, have inspired discussion about a "compromise on both sides."

Although there are very few who don't believe the public schools need more money, the business community believes a 4 percent tax on profits above $50,000 "is a bit onerous," Goldwater said.

Business favors a tax that would be more easy to administer, the chairman said.

The schoolteachers union, the Nevada State Education Association, gathered more than 60,000 signatures on the initiative to impose the tax. The Legislature has 40 days to pass the tax or it goes on the election ballot in 2002.

Projections show the tax raising about $250 million a year for the school districts. The money would be used for teachers' pay and school improvements.

Goldwater said there is no need to bring the tax forward for a vote if the petition does not have enough support for passage, because it will go on the election ballot.

"The only reason to take a vote is to pass it," Goldwater said, adding that he will only take a vote if his committee urges him. And so far, he said, no committee member is pushing for a vote.

Senate Majority Leader Bill Raggio, R-Reno, has already said the petition won't pass the Senate.

A coalition of businesses filed suit, challenging the constitutionality of the profits tax. A district judge ruled the petition is valid. The case was appealed to the Nevada Supreme Court, which heard arguments earlier this month but has not issued a decision.