Quotes on Nevada’s property-tax relief measure

Saturday, April 2, 2005 | 12:32 p.m.

Quotes from lawmakers and property owners on a property tax relief package passed on Friday by the Nevada Legislature:

---

Senate Majority Leader Bill Raggio, R-Reno:

"It's a product a lot of work and effort. It's a compromise. It's far better than what was first expected here. Everybody came here thinking we were going to do like a 6 percent cap. So in that regard it's much better for the homeowner in the state. And then we also were able to include some definite cap on other property, not just big business, but all other property. And then the compromise last night hopefully is effective for small business. So it's far better than what we thought we were going to be able to do when we got here."

---

Assembly Speaker Richard Perkins, D-Henderson:

"We've just solved the most pressing crisis facing our state."

---

Gov. Kenny Guinn, who called the bill, AB489, a "giant step" and said the move should forestall efforts to pass more drastic measures such as a Proposition 13-style initiative:

"I truly believe people will look at this and say, given that fact that we have no income tax, we have no personal tax, we have 78 percent less taxes than California, why would we want to do that? And anybody who comes here and says, let's do what they're doing in California better go back there and do it over."

---

Assemblyman Lynn Hettrick, R-Gardnerville, on the future of the tax package given possible pressure from anti-tax groups that could force lawmakers to support even lower cuts:

"Who's going vote to raise taxes? It's going to hurt them in the next election, so who's going to go there?" he said.

---

Senate Minority Leader Dina Titus, D-Las Vegas:

"I don't think it's constitutional. But it's the best we could get and we've got to get some kind of relief."

---

Assembly Majority Leader Barbara Buckley, D-Las Vegas, on how legislators considered ways to provide relief to urban areas without starving county governments, and whether residential and commercial properties should receive equal relief:

"There was a lot of concern in the Assembly that too many breaks were being given to the big guy, to the out-of-state businesses. What the Assembly was looking for was a leveling of the playing field."

---

Sen. Warren Hardy, R-Las Vegas, on the differing caps for homeowners and commercial properties:

"Ultimately all of us would have loved to see people treated equally across the board, but we've got another house (the Assembly) ... They had goals and objectives over there and we didn't have time to go into a long debate about this."

---

Mike Francouer, owner of DART Liquor in Stateline, at Lake Tahoe:

"Eight percent is better than 17 percent or 27 percent. But 6 percent is better than 8 percent."

"This is a tax increase after an $850 million boondoggle two years ago. What are they going to do with the money? Thank God we don't meet more than once every two years."

---

Monte Miller, CEO of KeyState Corporate Management in Las Vegas:

"I have a hard time understanding why they do not uphold the Constitution. I can't reconcile why - if the math works out - they don't have a 3 and 3 (cap on homeowners and businesses)."

---

Don Rightmire, 75, of Genoa, whose property values have soared:

"Something had to be done. What was happening was outrageous. This year is our year for a reassessment, so I knew a big jump was coming."

And on the specter of a Proposition 13-like initiative:

"I'd have to look at it real close. But as long as (the Legislature) is trying, I don't know if we have to force them into anything."

---

Maryanne Ingemanson of Incline Village, who heads a tax reform group called the Village League, on Proposition 13:

"I'd be very surprised if it did not get on the ballot. Whether it's successful depends a lot on how well the 3 percent cap is handled."

---

Deborah Moore, of AARP-Nevada:

"Many of our members are living on fixed incomes and will benefit from this perhaps more than any other consumers."