Guinn set to name task force appointees

Erin Neff and Cy Ryan

Friday, Oct. 26, 2001 | 8:35 a.m.

Gov. Kenny Guinn is on the verge of appointing members to a task force created by the Legislature to study the state's pending economic crisis and ways to generate revenue to help offset an expected $1 billion shortfall.

Guinn said Thursday it is premature to discuss the names of those he plans to appoint to the Governor's Task Force on Tax Policy because he has not yet contacted all potential committee members about their willingness to serve.

The governor also said he needs to sit down with Senate Majority Leader Bill Raggio, R-Reno, and Assembly Speaker Richard Perkins, D-Henderson, to learn who they want to appoint to the committee.

"We've talked a couple of times, but we need to sit down and go over the names," Guinn said. "I assure you there will be great diversity on the panel, not just in the industry each person represents but in the type of ethnic diversity we have in this state."

Though a decision is expected next week, former Clark County budget director Guy Hobbs tops the list of likely committee members. Hobbs is now a consultant for a variety of governmental entities and was in Carson City on Thursday for a legislative tax panel discussion.

Raggio said he has submitted several names to Guinn and has heard Hobbs mentioned as a likely committee member.

Both Raggio and Perkins have two appointments to the committee. Guinn also has two appointments, but can add two more people if necessary, according to the resolution passed by the Legislature, which created the task force.

The additional two members would be people representing taxpayers and "services supported primarily by public revenue."

Raggio said he wants to ensure fair representation on the study committee.

Perkins has about four candidates in mind for his appointments, but wants to meet with Raggio and Guinn to ensure each sector of the state is fairly represented. "The governor and I and Raggio are supposed to sit down and talk about how to balance it out," Perkins said. "We haven't had the chance to compare notes yet." At its first meeting 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.

The resolution said the task force should consider ways to "reduce budgetary reliance on volatile or cyclical revenue streams" and should look at the various fees charged by state agencies.

The task force is also charged with reviewing the possibility of reducing the state's sales and use taxes over time as new tax revenues become available. It must also seek the suggestions of state government, businesses, labor and local government to get recommendations "for support of K-12 education and longterm care needs of the general public, including our growing senior population."

The resolution says the "development of a broad-based tax structure that is reflective of the diversity of Nevada's economy is a desirable policy and worthy of study."

During the recent session lawmakers rejected a proposal by the Nevada State Education Association for a business profits tax, with money going to the schools. It also killed a plan by Sen. Joe Neal, D-North Las Vegas, to raise the gaming tax.

At a meeting Thursday of the Legislative Committee for Local Government Taxes and Finance, Neal advocated a study of all taxes and said there should not be "any sacred cows."

Neal, a member of the legislative committee, said the casinos are not paying for the growth of the state. New casinos for the first two years pay for growth, Neal said, but, after that, "the public begins to pay."

"I'm getting tired of getting beat up every time I present something," he told the committee. "Gaming is not being taxed at the level it should be."