Letter: A state Taxpayer Bill of Rights is long-term answer

Monday, March 7, 2005 | 9:03 a.m.

I read with interest the Feb. 27 articles in the Las Vegas Sun under the common headline, "Four proposals for property tax relief." The ideas proposed by Assemblywoman Sharron Angle, Sen. Dina Titus, Assemblyman Richard Perkins and Clark County Assessor Mark Schofield all have flaws.

Angle's proposal, the California Proposition 13 model, rolls back property taxes to 2002. Words, once spoken, cannot be taken back. The same applies to money once spent, contractually committed or planned. This rollback would only hurt taxpayers in the end because alternative financing would have to be found.

Titus' freeze-plus-3-percent proposal has merit. The concern is that the public has a short memory and this can reduce the chances of passing good, broad-based tax legislation at a much later date.

Perkins' $50,000 "homestead" assessment reduction proposal is detrimental to rural counties and does little for taxpayer in Clark and Washoe counties.

Schofield's proposal is a 6 percent cap on property assessments. Notice the absence of any tax rate freeze or a percentage cap on year-to-year dollar increases.

According to taxfoundation.org, Nevada continues climbing toward the top of the highest-taxed states. What is truly needed is a method to control state and local spending. A cap is needed for the short term. But for the long term, a Taxpayer Bill of Rights would prohibit state and local governments from spending more than population growth plus inflation. It makes sense for taxpayers and it allows government to grow in an orderly and rational manner.

RICHARD RYCHTARIK