Editorial: Candidate’s oil spill

Thursday, Sept. 8, 2005 | 9:07 a.m.

A Republican candidate for governor, state Sen. Bob Beers of Las Vegas, is proposing a two-month moratorium on the state's gas tax. Beers believes this would help Nevada motorists who have seen prices at the pump rise even more following Hurricane Katrina. Beers estimates that not having to pay the state's 17.65-cents-a-gallon tax would save Nevada motorists between $42 million to $50 million. That is money, however, that would otherwise go to build highways and support the Department of Motor Vehicles. To offset that loss, Beers proposes dipping into the state's rainy-day fund -- which currently has $159 million and is supposed to be used for emergencies -- and shifting that money into the gas tax account.

Beers' plan isn't getting an enthusiastic response from Senate Majority Leader Bill Raggio, R-Reno, and Assembly Majority Leader Barbara Buckley, D-Las Vegas. Raggio told Sun reporter Cy Ryan that it first must be determined whether the higher gas prices, which now hover around $3 a gallon for regular unleaded, equate to a "fiscal emergency" or are just a "fiscal inconvenience." (For someone using 12 gallons a week, a moratorium's savings would translate into less than $20 over two months' time.) Buckley also is concerned about draining the state's rainy-day fund, in case the state gets hit by a major, costly emergency in the future. Further, there would be no requirement for oil companies, which are experiencing windfall profits in the billions, to reduce their prices by the full 17.65-cents-a-gallon tax that would be eliminated.

Gov. Kenny Guinn is assessing whether to call a special session of the Nevada Legislature to enact the moratorium, but Guinn should reject Beers' idea. Not only is there no reason to believe that a moratorium would offer any real relief to motorists at the pump, but depleting the amount of money available in the state's rainy-day fund also would be fiscally irresponsible.