Tue, Nov 11, 2008 (2:05 a.m.)

Gov. Jim Gibbons’ campaign pledge that he would not raise taxes in Nevada has had the effect of pushing state government programs to the brink of disaster. Though $1.2 billion has been slashed from the state budget this year in the wake of a sputtering economy, Nevada is still projected to be $300 million short in revenue to fund education, health care and other programs through June. An additional shortfall of $1.5 billion is expected from a projected $7.1 billion in budget requests for the biennium that begins in July. Cutting programs by such large amounts is unthinkable.

It now appears that even Gibbons has a tipping point. We find it encouraging that the governor, after meeting with legislative leaders Friday, has said everything is on the table, including tax increases.

But let’s not give the governor too much credit just yet. It took only until Monday for Gibbons to backpedal by stating his opposition to a sales tax increase, a sales tax on services and a tax on gold mining.

He also couched his position by stating the obvious: that the Nevada Legislature could adopt tax hikes by overriding his vetoes. Under state law it takes two-thirds of both houses of the Legislature to pass new or increased taxes without a vote of the people.

This reeks of a setup by Gibbons, who could let others raise taxes and then run for reelection in 2010 as the anti-tax crusader. But that strategy could backfire, as it did for Republican Rep. Jon Porter, who lost his 3d Congressional District seat to Democrat Dina Titus after unfairly painting her as “Dina Taxes.”

If a tax package passed the Legislature with bipartisan support, Gibbons should display true leadership by signing the legislation rather than stubbornly sticking to a senseless campaign promise that was never in the best interests of the state.

If the election taught us anything, it is that voters want their elected officials to act in moderation. A vow never to support new taxes and thereby let schools and roads rot is hardly a middle-of-the-road position. State Sen. Warren Hardy, R-Las Vegas, was quoted in the Las Vegas Sun on Sunday as saying Nevadans rejected the state’s small-government, libertarian past: “If Republicans are going to survive, we need to figure out a way to recruit and run candidates who are going to attract Democratic voters.”

That sentiment was echoed by state Sen. Bill Raggio, R-Reno, who told the Nevada Appeal: “My party is going to have to change. It’s gone too far to the right.”

Gibbons would do Nevada a big favor by considering the advantages of a more reliable revenue stream that fully funds the needs of the state.