Editorial: Tax plan a bad idea

Tuesday, Sept. 6, 2005 | 8:57 a.m.

Assemblywoman Sharron Angle, R-Reno, is getting good feedback from the Legislature and the people of Nevada, but she refuses to accept it. Two years ago she circulated an initiative petition, hoping that Nevada residents would sign on to her plan that takes the power of taxing property away from the Legislature and locks it into the Nevada Constitution as a permanent formula. She failed to gather enough signatures for the petition to appear on the ballot.

She has twice introduced her plan to the Legislature, and twice the Legislature has rejected it. Persistence is oftentimes a virtue, but in this case it is not. Angle should walk away from this ill-advised plan.

Unfortunately, that is not her position. Last week Angle again filed her initiative petition with the secretary of state's office, a prelude to campaigning for the 83,184 signatures she will need to get it onto the general election ballot next year. Her supporters say they don't foresee any problem with getting that many signatures by the June 20 deadline.

Her plan would restrict property taxes from rising any more than 2 percent a year, and it would require a two-thirds majority vote in the Legislature to approve a bond issue, which is one way that government can finance needed public buildings.

We trust Nevadans will want to keep the power of taxation in the hands of their elected representatives. Situations change from year to year, and the Legislature has the flexibility to react to them. Locking a tax formula into the Constitution would leave Nevada in danger of not having the funds to pay for vital public services, especially in times of crises.