Editorial: Leadership required on state taxes

Friday, May 23, 2003 | 10:04 a.m.

There is slightly more than a week left before the Legislature adjourns, so legislators can no longer procrastinate on deciding how much should be spent on important state programs and what new taxes should be raised to pay for them. The Democratic-run Assembly Ways and Means Committee believes that $1.06 billion in extra funding will be needed for state government over the next two years, while the Republican-led Senate Finance Committee is looking at $830 million. The Democratic plan is more in line with the total spending in Republican Gov. Kenny Guinn's budget, which includes raising $980 million in new taxes. (On Thursday Assembly Speaker Richard Perkins proposed $972 million in new taxes, a plan that would require the Democrats' budget proposal to be scaled back in order to balance the budget.)

Some Republicans, and Democrats too, are scared to increase taxes that break the $1 billion barrier, believing that somehow voters will retaliate by turning them out of office. Why, they're even frightened to go above $900 million, preferring to stay well below that amount, lest someone round off the figure and refer to it as "nearly" $1 billion.

The people didn't send legislators to Carson City to play a numbers game. Legislators who worry about the psychological impact of breaking the $1 billion barrier are underestimating the intelligence of voters. People aren't going to distinguish between $800 million and $1 billion. Besides, if a political opponent is going to engage in demagoguery on taxes, he or she is going to refer to it as the largest tax increase in state history -- and even $800 million would fit that bill. Legislators instead should do what's right -- fund the budget, at a minimum, in the amount that Guinn has requested. The real political fallout -- and voter backlash -- will occur if they don't do their jobs and continue their path of under-funding public schools and social services.