Referendum to repeal tax initiative is failing

Friday, April 30, 2004 | 9:32 a.m.

SUN CAPITAL BUREAU

CARSON CITY -- A referendum to repeal the $833 million tax increase imposed by the 2003 Legislature, probably won't qualify for the election ballot.

George Harris, chairman of Nevadans for Sound Government, said Friday it was a long shot that his group would collect the 51,234 signatures by May 18 to make it on to the November election.

Right now his group is running out of money and is 9,000 signatures short of reaching the qualifying number, he said. The organization would have to gather 2,000 signatures a day and Harris said so far it has never reached that figure.

Between 67,000 and 70,000 signatures are needed to make sure there are enough valid registered voters who signed it, he said.

He blamed part of problem on government interference. He said his group was told to leave the state Department of Motor Vehicles Office in Reno because on grounds there was no copy of the petition in that office. He personally was escorted out of Boyd Stadium in Las Vegas at a UNLV football game by university security people and had to work in the parking lot. And he said the group was denied a booth at a county fair in Logandale.

His budget was $250,000 but he has received only $100,000. He said he lost 15 or 16 of the people gathering signatures when they went to work for the Nevada State Education Association, which is also circulating a petition to require the state to fund education at the national average.