Tax hike plays role in forming new Legislature

Kirsten Searer

Tuesday, July 6, 2004 | 11:02 a.m.

Steven Saul hasn't had health care since he opened his carpet cleaning business seven years ago.

He certainly hasn't the time or resources to ponder a run for office.

But Saul is one of many fresh-faced candidates who says last year's contentious session and $833 million tax increase have inspired him to run for office.

"I wouldn't raise one fee," Saul said of his anti-tax stance in his race as a Republican for Assembly District 1. "I wouldn't raise one tax to save my soul next session."

Many candidates are running this year on a strictly anti-tax platform.

Others, like physician Joe Heck, do not focus on the tax issue but are relying on support from those looking to punish legislators who blocked a proposed gross receipts tax last year, a tax favored by Gov. Kenny Guinn, most Democrats and the state's powerful casino industry.

Heck is challenging longtime Sen. Ann O'Connell, R-Henderson. He has the backing of powerful Republican political consultant Sig Rogich and most major casino companies, who argue that O'Connell last session tried to fight taxes that would have shared the state's tax burden with non-casino companies.

"I just don't think Ann O'Connell has ever really voted for revenue measures that offer the best stability for our long-term future of the state economy," said Rogich, who is offering free services to Heck this election cycle.

Casino companies still might be smarting from their defeat in the last session, but political watchers are still unsure how much everyone else cares.

Typically after tax increases, some legislators are booted and some choose to leave, said state Archivist Guy Rocha. The question is, he said, whether the tax cut is still emblazoned on voters' memories.

"They forget what falls off the radar screen," Rocha said.

And in the past few months, taxes don't come up when local candidates walk door-to-door, political consultant Jim Ferrance said.

Yet people who have felt the impact of the modified payroll tax and other tax hikes passed last year, and even people who are concerned about rising property taxes, are "going to be very receptive to listening to anybody who says they won't raise taxes," Carole Vilardo, president of the Nevada Taxpayers Association, said.

"The one thing about taxes, unlike the other issues that get dealt with, taxes impact everybody, and they affect them in the pocketbook," she said.

This year's candidates frequently cite the tax hikes in literature, Web sites and on the campaign trail.

Another Republican Assembly candidate, Kris Munn, has signed a pledge through the Americans for Tax Reform promising "to oppose and vote against any and all efforts to increase taxes."

No. 1 on his list of issues in District 18: "Guide the Assembly in the fight against unfair taxation."

Bill Dolan, another Republican running in Assembly District 1, wrote in a pamphlet: "I give you my word I will not vote to increase taxes unless the voters ask, seek out or demand that taxes be adjusted."

From the Web site of Republican Steven Grierson, who is challenging Assembly Speaker Richard Perkins in District 23: "The almost 30 percent increase in the state budget cost the average family of four $1,000 a year in new taxes. Have you seen a 30 percent increase in improvement in education of state services?"

Saul admits he's running a bare-bones campaign, but he said last year's contentious session still inspires him.

"I'm just doing this by a shoestring and hoping I shake enough hands," he said.