‘Axe the Tax’ referendum facing early legal challenge

Kirsten Searer

Tuesday, Aug. 3, 2004 | 9:20 a.m.

The referendum on last year's $833 million tax increase has not yet qualified for the ballot, but the Nevada Taxpayers Association announced Monday that its board members want to take "Axe the Tax" to court.

The Axe the Tax referendum would repeal much of Senate Bill 8, which the legislature passed in 2003 to create an $833 million tax increase over a two-year budget.

Nevadans for Sound Government, led by activist George Harris, will find out by Monday if the measure has enough signatures to make the ballot.

But Carole Vilardo, president of the Nevada Taxpayers Association, said Tuesday that the referendum petitions circulated around the state didn't fully detail what the referendum would do.

The state Constitution requires petitions to "include the full text of the measure proposed."

Harris' petition lists the sections of the bill that would be repealed by number, but it doesn't specifically explain what the voters would be voting to repeal.

Voters would not know, for example, that the measure would affect the state's rainy day fund and reorganize the state's substance abuse programs, Vilardo said.

"There was no text, and if they asked for information the only thing they were told about was that it would repeal taxes," she said of the signature-gathering effort.

Harris countered by saying that the group passed out copies of a tax wrapup produced by the Legislative Counsel Bureau, the legal arm of the legislature.

The full page of information describes all of the new taxes, including business taxes, licensing fees, gross gaming revenue, cigarette taxes, liquor taxes, live entertainment taxes, real property transfer taxes and more.

"Let's not skirt this into anything than what it is," Harris said. "People that are tax and spenders are petrified" to give Nevadans a voice on taxes.

While Secretary of State Dean Heller warned Harris back in November to provide the full text of his petition to voters, Harris said he feels he falls within the requirements of the constitution.

"They're going to look pretty foolish in court when we show the evidence," he said.

The group also structured their language in the same way as previous increases on the sales tax, Harris said.

The referendum needs 51,337 signatures to make the ballot. The Secretary of State's office announced July 27 that the measure had a raw count of about 64,600. Those signatures are undergoing a random verification process now.

If they pass muster and the referendum makes the ballot, the taxpayers association likely would file a challenge in district court in Carson City, Vilardo said.

The Taxpayers Association would be represented by Thomas "Spike" Wilson of the law firm McDonald, Caranno and Wilson, she said.