Democrat isn't shy about talking taxes

CARSON CITY -- Democratic legislators have talked a lot in the first two weeks of the session about the state needing more money, but have avoided using the "T" word.

They have said that Gov. Brian Sandoval's proposed spending cuts are too severe. They have said state and local governments need more revenue to adequately serve the public.

Although the Democrats are expected to call for new taxes, they have been true to their strategy of not talking about it until later in the session.

Then there's Las Vegas Democrat Peggy Pierce.

Pierce is drawing up bills that would levy a corporate rate income tax, make services subject to the sales tax, increase alcohol and cigarette taxes, and boost the mining tax.

"I have been upfront about this for a long time," said Pierce, who won re-election in November by almost 20 percentage points. "It is important to have tax bills. Let's talk about them."

Long associated with Culinary Local 226, Pierce is resources coordinator for the Labor Agency of Nevada and has served in the Assembly since 2003.

Senate Revenue Committee Chairwoman Sheila Leslie, D-Reno, said Monday that Pierce's bills "could be elements of a tax plan" that emerges from the Legislature late in the session.

Pierce has her own statistics to justify why legislators should raise taxes during what state historian Guy Rocha calls the worst economic crisis in Nevada's history.

A U.S. Department of Commerce report in November found American companies earned record profits of $1.659 trillion in the previous 12 months.

"Nevada may be in a recession, but big business in America is not in a recession," Pierce said last week. "American business is sitting on an absolute mountain of money. They aren't reinvesting the money. They aren't hiring anybody."

Nevada is one of five states without a corporate income tax. Pierce wants to write her business income tax bill so that small Nevada-based businesses are exempt, but "big box stores" like Walmart and J.C. Penney pay.

Geoff Lawrence, deputy director of policy for the conservative Nevada Policy Research Institute think tank, rejects her line of thinking.

"Businesses around the country may be earning record profits, but I am not sure that is the case in Nevada," Lawrence said. "They aren't hiring because there is a lot of uncertainty on what will happen with health reform, with their labor costs. Every state in the country is talking about dramatic changes (in taxes). You don't want to hire a new employee and then have to let him go six months later."

REPUBLICANS UNITED

Sandoval points to the state's highest-in-the nation 14.5 percent unemployment rate and its record number of foreclosures and bankruptcies as reasons to justify why taxes cannot be increased.

Republican leaders insist their members are unanimously opposed to taxes and back the governor and his two-year $5.8 billion state budget, which calls for no new taxes.

Even Sen. Dean Rhoads, R-Tuscarora, who voted for tax increases in 2003 and 2009, says he won't now support higher taxes.

Neither will new Sen. Greg Brower, R-Reno, who replaced longtime Republican leader Bill Raggio, who said last year the state budget already had been cut to the bone and new taxes were required.

Democrat John Lee, D-North Las Vegas, also has expressed his opposition to higher taxes.

That leaves Democrats who ultimately may support tax increases at least four votes short of the two-thirds majority needed in the Senate to pass higher taxes and override a veto. They also are two votes short in the Assembly, providing every Democrat votes for higher taxes.

"They say that now, but they may not say that later," Leslie about Republican opposition to tax increases.

She hopes Sandoval, Lee and the Republicans will not be so anti-tax in May when legislators finish reviewing budgets, make adjustments and come out with a list showing the cuts facing education and human resources.

EXISTING TAXES

Besides looking at the tax bill from Pierce and others, Leslie said her committee also will examine the tax structure and determine whether to reauthorize four taxes scheduled to expire June 30.

On that day, the 1.17 percent tax on companies' payrolls reverts back to 0.63 percent, a 0.35 percentage point increase in the sales tax rate expires, the $200-a-year business license fee drops back to $100, and changes in depreciation allowances that increased car registration fees end.

In his speech to open the Senate on Feb. 7, Senate Majority Leader Steven Horsford, D-Las Vegas, said Sandoval's budget is $2 billion short of the state's real needs.

While Leslie won't concede that figure is the target number for tax increases, Pierce said it might be in the ballpark.

Even Lawrence conjectured before the session began that enough Republicans could be persuaded to pass some taxes. Now that he is in Carson City, he believes they firmly will hold to no-new-taxes pledges.

"The governor has done a really good job of getting Republicans to back his plan," Lawrence said. "It is bad environment politically for Republicans to vote for tax hikes. They feel they were elected with a mandate to rein in spending."

If they voted for higher taxes, then Lawrence said voters would defeat them in the next election.

NEED FOR PUBLIC EMPLOYEES

It isn't just record business profits or the reluctance of businesses to hire new workers that irks Pierce.

For too long, she said, Nevada has been unwilling to increase the size of government, and the result has been a poor education system and a state that leads the nation in bad things, like its suicide rate.

She cited Legislative Counsel Bureau statistics that show Nevada had 602 public employees per 10,000 residents in 1978. That number fell to 430 per 10,000 residents in 2008.

To stay where the state was in 1978, the state and local governments would have needed to hire 44,000 more workers, Pierce said.

"How did this happen?" she asked. "We were the fastest growth state for most of that time. We'd hold a Legislature and conservatives would scream 'We can't expand government.' Then we would go home and, when we came back, Nevada would have added 50,000 or 75,000 more people. And conservatives again would scream 'We can't expand government.' We need to end this failed experiment in tiny government."

Review-Journal writer Laura Myers contributed to this report. Contact Capital Bureau Chief Ed Vogel at evogel@reviewjournal.com or 775-687-3901.

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Comments

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1. michael commenting Feb. 18, 2011 | 4:38 p.m. Report Abuse

   peggy never turns down ops to raise taxes, who are these people who send her to carson city

2. Zooey Feb. 18, 2011 | 3:26 p.m. Report Abuse

   Peggy Pierce is smart woman. God forbid we bring up the word taxes. Sometimes I am embarrassed to say I am from Nevada. Good to know we have someone like Peggy out there.

3. stangellee Feb. 18, 2011 | 2:19 p.m. Report Abuse

   If we have less workers per ten thousand then we had in 1978 then why is the government broke? Could it be that steady cost of living wage that government workers constanly get? And their increased retiremnet packages? We found fraud in the firefighters union, I would bet we could find a lot of other fraud in other government departments!!!
   
   Aformerrepublican if your wife was spending to much money and you told her whe was going over budget and told her to stop, would she stop? What if she told you to get a second job to cover her expenses what would you do? Would you go get a second job even though you are working forty hours a week, tired from working in and around the house, had no time for fun. Or would you tell her no and balance the budget with what she has. If you would say yes and got another job,she has your balls in her purse. Sometimes you have to say NO and stop giving in to a whining child!!!

4. Anya Feb. 18, 2011 | 1:19 p.m. Report Abuse

   Stop giving money to ILLEGALS. GO SB178. Let's make it a FELONY TO APPLY for unemployment comp you're not entitled to--then we can DEPORT ON ARREST. Lets authorize FINGERPRINTS WITH APPLICATION FOR SOCIAL WELFARE BENEFITS, UC, ANY AND ALL PROGRAMS so we can DETER FRAUD when Hispanics simply change their names every 2 years to KEEP RECEIVING BENEFITS FOR THEIR ANCHOR BABIES. And, let's follow Oklahoma legislation and the 14th amendment to NOT INCLUDE ANCHOR BABIES AS STATE CITIZENS. Yes state citizens--see the U.S. constitution. No birth certificate issued unless mother can prove she was legal resident of U.S. or was a citizen.

5. n7v.blogspot.com Feb. 18, 2011 | 12:40 p.m. Report Abuse

   At lease Pierce is not afraid to show us what she stands for. Is there even one Republican willing to stand up for small, constitutional, *minimum* government? The mealy-mouthed BIG Government Republicans intentionally try to slither down the middle. You know, by claiming
   
   No new taxes! (old ones OK)
   Improve public education with competition (from other public [charter] schools)
   Less government! (through more regulations)
   
   Voters are allowed to choose between a BIG Government DEM and a BIG Government GOP.

6. EHarris Feb. 18, 2011 | 12:10 p.m. Report Abuse

   Jerry
   
   Liberals know as a whole we do not support tax increases, they think if they single out certain groups, races or income levels they can trick enough people (like deacon) to discriminate against them and support a tax increase on “someone else for that persons own good”. To help with this divide and conquer tactic they promise to “spend” the money on “noble” causes. Right after they take their cut and pay off the unions. How do you think we got firefighters making 6 figure salaries?

7. EHarris Feb. 18, 2011 | 12:02 p.m. Report Abuse

   Deacon your statement “Most of the so-called rich are figuring out ways to cheat the city, county, state and the feds, and by doing so they leave everyone else holding the bag.” Is by and large a myth, democrat leaders know it to be false, they also know liberals will repeat it and get all bent out of shape over it and never bother to learn the truth. You are either getting played or paid to repeat that false statement.

8. Netsuai Feb. 18, 2011 | 12:01 p.m. Report Abuse

   Can we require all politicians to take a course in business? Raise taxes & businesses will leave Las Vegas. Keep taxes low & more businesses will come into Las Vegas, therefore more opportunities for employment & more revenue into the city. Take a drive away from the Strip & see how many empty commerical units Las Vegas has. You want to create jobs, not remove them completely - which is what you will accomplish by raising taxes. Want to try to hit the "big" corporations? The spiral chain of passing the fees will hit the consumers - us, the locals. Or they'll just say, nope - we don't need 16 locations in Vegas - drop it to 10, which equates to less funding from the commercial land & taxes they pay to exist on such popular corners like Boca Park and The District in Green Valley. I don't care if you're Democrat or Republican. Put that aside & look at the logic of overcoming any budget deficit with math. Identify the opportunities that Las Vegas can provide - never restrict growth by taxing companies that grow because they're successful. They'll move elsewhere - say bye bye to such companies like Zappos.com who has made Las Vegas their home. Their operations do not need to be here, they can go to Colorado instead.

9. Jerry T Feb. 18, 2011 | 11:32 a.m. Report Abuse

   If you want to tax come up with an idea that has everyone contributing. Do not single me out because I smoke and drink. Or the people that dine on fast food. Get everyone taxed.
   What do we need more money for public employees.
   Who elects these people?

10. Anya Feb. 18, 2011 | 11:21 a.m. Report Abuse

    Nevadans are mostly working class. We make about $40K per working adult, when employed and with a little seniority. You can only collect so much in taxes to pay for benefits for who? Why should we pay for illegals, single moms, government employee benefits? CUT SPENDING. Support the governor's budget.

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