Letter: Tax-and-spending restraint needed

Tuesday, Nov. 15, 2005 | 9:27 a.m.

On Nov. 13 Sun columnist and UNLV professor Hal Rothman wrote that Colorado's tax-and-spending control requirement, known as TABOR and by association the proposed Nevada TASC, is modeled after California's Proposition 13. It is not.

He argues that the Colorado model was draconian and constrained government spending too much. With or without TABOR, Colorado was never the economic model all other states yearned for. Colorado was, however, brave enough to be the first to enact TABOR in order to rein in out-of-control government spending.

Were there shortcomings to its implementation? Certainly. Can we learn and improve upon what Colorado has pioneered? Of course we can and we will.

Colorado based its tax calculations upon year-to-year results. They did not allow for multiyear smoothing to iron out any dramatic spending peaks or troughs. Taxpayers in Nevada can do this now. Nevada can also establish a much stronger rainy day fund than either Colorado or we have today.

Professor Rothman also states that taxes in Nevada are miniscule, yet he fails to point out that in Clark County we have some of the highest paid civil servants in the country. Why is that?

The time for Nevadans to enact tax control legislation is now, when taxes are still relatively under control. Waiting until taxation and government spending have reached their pinnacles would be a disaster. There would be no going back to a safe and sane TASC approach, at least not without a whole lot of pain.

Richard Rychtarik

Las Vegas