Letter: Legislature must act promptly on property taxes

Friday, Jan. 14, 2005 | 9:05 a.m.

The recent property tax conference held at UNLV and attended by many legislators produced mixed results. There seemed to be a consensus that the issue of reining in property taxes is difficult and potentially harmful to the financial interests of various constituencies.

As reported by your newspaper, Mike Sloan, from the Mandaly Resort Group, said that one problem with adopting a measure akin to Proposition 13 was that, unlike California, Nevada has no personal income tax as an alternative revenue source. Right, but we do have gaming taxes.

Professor Gary Cornia, from Brigham Young University, said that if a sharp cap, similar to Proposition 13, were adopted here, then, like California and other states, there would be a shift in the quantity and quality of government services. But hasn't the influx into those states of millions of low-wage, undocumented workers over the past 20 years had anything to do with those reductions?

It's time to fish or cut bait. The Nevada Legislature needs to get it together now. It won't get any better or smarter later. Pick something that appears sensible, add a sunset provision if necessary, and then go with it.

RICHARD RYCHTARIK