Guinn’s new tax panel set to study future

Thursday, Nov. 15, 2001 | 10:06 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- Guy Hobbs, chairman of the newly appointed Governor's Task Force on Tax Policy, says the group must first assess the fate of the state's financial future.

Hobbs, an expert in taxation, was selected by Gov. Kenny Guinn to head the eight-member committee, which will review Nevada's tax structure and make recommendations to the 2003 Legislature.

The committee is heavily weighted with Southern Nevada representatives. Two members are from the north, and none are from rural Nevada.

Last year Guinn predicted that the state, if it continues on its present spending course, would in eight years face a $1 billion deficit. The Legislature adopted a resolution to set up the committee.

"We have to revisit the magnitude of the problem, and we have to understand its nature," said Hobbs, comptroller for Clark County for 13 years; he has operated a private consulting business for six years.

The resolution allowed the governor to select four members, and the Senate majority leader and Assembly speaker each chose two representatives.

In addition to Hobbs, Guinn named Mike Sloan, a senior vice president at Mandalay Bay, to represent the gaming industry; Nancy Wong, vice president of Arcata Associates Inc., to represent small business in Las Vegas; and Eva Garcia-Mendoza, an attorney who is active in both the Hispanic and business communities.

Assembly Speaker Richard Perkins, D-Henderson, chose Brian Greenspun, editor of the Las Vegas Sun; and Ken Lange, executive director of the Nevada State Education Association, the union for schoolteachers that this year tried unsuccessfully to levy a business profits tax.

Senate Majority Leader Bill Raggio, R-Reno, named Russ Fields, who is president of the Nevada Mining Association in Reno; and Luther Mack, who owns a string of McDonald's franchises and will represent small business in Reno.

"This group represents a talented and diverse cross-section of Nevada," said Guinn. "I am confident the task force will think outside the box in formulating a tax template for the 2003 Legislature."

Hobbs, who led the fight 10 years ago to send more tax money to Clark County and away from Washoe County and other rural areas, says he wants to hold the first meeting in early December. It's likely the meeting will be held in Las Vegas, where six of the eight members live.

Hobbs also said that he intends to install a technical committee to do the "nuts and bolts" work. He said it probably would be comprised of volunteers who are also tax experts.

The task force must identify specific taxes to be reviewed, such as those on gaming gross receipts, mining, property, sales or services, business profits, employees of business, slot route operators and car rental companies.

According to the resolution, the task force should consider ways to "reduce budgetary reliance on volatile or cyclical revenue streams," and it should look at the various fees charged by the state agencies that have not been increased in a long time.

More than 75 percent of the state's budget is financed from the casino taxes and the sales tax.

The task force will also examine the possibility of reducing the state's sales and use taxes over time as new tax revenues become available. And it must seek the suggestions of state government, businesses, labor and local government to collect recommendations "for support of K-12 education and long-term care needs of the general public, including our growing senior population."