Editorial: Hourglass is running on tax bills

Tuesday, March 4, 2003 | 8:33 a.m.

What begins Feb. 3 but starts March 4? Look north for the answer, all the way to Carson City. It's the 2003 Legislature, which so far has had little to do while awaiting the governor's tax proposal. When the session ends June 2, today will likely be seen as having been the true start of the session. The issue of taxes, which has dominated Nevada government for more than a year, finally got rolling this afternoon during a joint session of the Senate and Assembly taxation committees. On the agenda were Assembly Bill 204 and Senate Bill 219, containing Gov. Kenny Guinn's proposal for emergency, but temporary, tax increases to raise $80 million before June 30, the end of the fiscal year. The Legislature was also due today to receive Guinn's overall proposal for permanent new and increased taxes designed to add more than $500 million a year to the state's reven ue.

It's unfortunate that the Legislature did not have the tax proposals ready for immediate debate on day one of the session. Now, it has only three months to decide upon arguably the most important growth-related legislation of the last two decades. The governor's proposals number hundreds of pages. There is a bitter divide between Republicans and Democrats over which proposals are worthy, over how much needs to be raised to avert financial crisis, and over how much more can be cut from the budget.

Complicating matters are the other lengthy proposals that will be considered. The Nevada Task Force on Tax Policy, whose report after a year of research and hearings inspired Guinn's proposal, has its own recommendations that vary from the governor's. Sens. Terry Care, D-Las Vegas, and Mark Amodei, R-Carson City, are proposing a bill that swaps the centerpiece of Guinn's proposal -- the gross receipts business tax -- with increases in the room tax and the gaming tax. Another bill proposes a tax increase on services. Another proposes increases to the real estate transfer tax. More than a dozen other possible bills are in various stages of research by lawmakers. Add the lobbyists to the fray and you have the potential for chaos at the end of the session.

The people of Nevada need adequate funding for state services too much for that to happen. Legislative leaders, from this day onward, must emphasize time management if the state is to be rescued from impending financial crisis.