Editorial: Off road and off the books

Saturday, Dec. 22, 2007 | 7:30 a.m.

You frequently see them on Nevada highways - all-terrain vehicles loaded on trailers or in the back of pickup trucks. Their owners are looking forward to a day or more of exploration and bumpy rides in the backcountry.

Off-highway vehicles are popular here, as they are throughout the West, where open public land is still plentiful. Yet Nevada is the only Western state that does not require these vehicles to be registered.

This issue has come up during several legislative sessions, but failure to reach agreement on what a registration law should say and how it should be administered has prevented a bill from being passed.

It might be different during the 2009 legislative session. The Reno Gazette-Journal this week reported on a meeting of a public lands committee headed by state Sen. Dean Rhoads, R-Tuscarora (Elko County).

There was optimism at the meeting, attended by off-roaders as well as legislators, that Idaho's registration law would be a good model. Two-year registrations of ATVs would be required at a cost of $25 for each vehicle.

We believe an ATV registration law is long overdue for Nevada.

Revenue from the fees would help pay for maps and maintenance of ATV trails and for classes instructing riders on safety and proper use of the trail system. These expenditures would benefit riders and the environment.

Registration of ATV vehicles would also solve a long-standing problem faced by dealers, a problem also affecting state revenue. Today, Nevadans can cross into any border state and buy an ATV without being assessed a state sales tax. Nevada dealers lose business and the state loses the sales tax that would be charged here.

Upon registration, however, the sales tax would have to be paid. A spokesman for ATV dealers told the Gazette-Journal that lost sales annually amount to $34 million for them, and lost sales tax revenue amounts to $2.5 million for the state.

What's not to like about a registration law that would benefit the riders, the dealers, the environment and the state Treasury?