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Opinion
Apr. 05, 2009
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

NEVADA VIEWS: THE LEGISLATURE: Voters never smile upon tax hikes

It's why Jim Gibbons keeps winning elections

By ROBERT UITHOVEN
SPECIAL TO THE REVIEW-JOURNAL

Less than two decades ago, a relatively unknown state assemblyman named Jim Gibbons authored a simple, one-paragraph tax restraint initiative. His proposal required that any and all tax increases gain a two-thirds supermajority vote of the Legislature in order to pass. Gibbons eventually gathered enough signatures to place this proposal on the statewide ballot, and in the consecutive elections of 1994 and 1996, three of every four voters in Nevada elected to place this amendment in our state's constitution.

After serving three terms in the state assembly, Gibbons was elected and re-elected to serve five consecutive terms in Congress, representing Nevadans from all seventeen counties. Over the next 10 years, he voted more than 250 times to cut taxes at the federal level -- never once voting to increase taxes. As he racked up anti-tax votes, he also racked up election victories. In fact, Gibbons never faced a serious threat from an opponent during his congressional career, consistently winning by margins of approximately 50,000 votes -- in Washoe County alone.

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    • When Gibbons entered the 2006 governor's race, he was declared the early front-runner and quickly became the target of every other candidate's fire. The Nevada Democratic Party picked away at Gibbons early and often, as did then-Gov. Kenny Guinn, a Republican. Yet, even as he took a collective barrage of attacks from his opponents and endured a series of scandals late in the campaign, Gibbons still won.

    How? Just as he always had: by promising to keep our taxes low.

    This is not an attempt to defend Jim Gibbons, but rather a defense of consistent and strict fiscal discipline, the policy upon which he was elected. It was, after all, Gibbons' position on taxes that gave him a well-defined, easy-to-defend identity. It also gave him an impressive string of political victories that carried him from the state Legislature to the halls of Congress and, eventually, to the governor's office. The voters have had the ultimate say, every step of the way.

    Today, voters from all backgrounds are fed up with taxpayer-financed bailouts and the funding of a government that is bigger, more expensive and less responsive. And while leaders from both parties deserve blame, the trust gap is growing wider between our government and those who fund it.

    Looking ahead, it appears that a major tax increase will pass both houses of the Nevada Legislature, get vetoed by Gibbons and then return to the Legislature, where his veto will be overridden. This conclusion obviously takes into account that Gibbons possesses little if any political capital, and therefore, most legislators will refuse to stand with him when push comes to shove.

    This is where lawmakers should be careful. Any legislator seeking to use Gibbons' unpopularity as political cover when casting their vote to increase taxes will soon find out how little "political cover" exists from those who just had their taxes increased. This debate should not be about either the governor or our individual legislators.

    In fact, the governor made it easy by recently saying that the budget is no longer his, and that he wants little if anything to do with it now that it is in the hands of the Legislature. Good enough. The fiscal policies enacted this session will far outlive most of the political careers in Carson City today.

    This debate must be about whether a 100 percent increase in Nevada's payroll tax will encourage or discourage businesses to begin hiring again, especially when we have higher than 10 percent unemployment. It should be about whether increasing sales taxes on consumer goods is any way to get consumers spending again. It should be about the impacts of higher property taxes when Nevadans are already struggling to stay in their homes and businesses. It should be about the effects of higher fuel taxes -- keeping in mind what happened last summer when gas prices hit record highs -- significantly deterring consumption, crippling our economic engine (tourism) and ultimately decreasing the amount of revenue collected from already high gasoline taxes.

    Tax policy affects consumer behavior. Tax more, and consumers will spend less -- or they'll choose to spend elsewhere. Tax policy also affects voter behavior.

    Despite this governor's low approval ratings, increasing taxes remains difficult in Nevada because the voters have made it that way. And while many voters may have abandoned Gibbons, they have not abandoned the policy that got him elected.

    We'll find out for sure in November 2010, as voters prepare to cast their ballots, asking themselves, "During the crippling recession of 2008 and 2009, did my legislator rally to defend government's bottom line, or rally to defend mine?"

    Robert Uithoven is president of j3 Strategies, a Nevada political and government affairs consulting firm, president of the Western Alliance Fund and a former campaign manager for Nevada Gov. Jim Gibbons.

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    Cara wrote on April 29, 2009 10:45 AM: Taking the time to get a Payday Loan allows you to get your finances back on track if you are experiencing a small budget problem. If you refuse to understand how the loans work though, they can become huge problems. Though with careful attention paid, they are highly effective for almost any budget.


    GladK wrote on April 07, 2009 02:01 PM: Republicans hire trained seals (uh, not very well trained seals) like Jim Gibbons because as long as they are ensconced in their gated communities and life is all about what time for golf & cocktails, they give a good goddamn about actual working people, and decent schools & health care for those pesky "other" folks.


    Judy wrote on April 07, 2009 09:43 AM: Consistant Gibbons is!

    He is consistant about screwing around on his wife. He is consistant about knowing nothing about the fiscal crisis. He is consistant in making himslef t look like a clown. He is consistant with giving pay raises to those of his staff who would go to the press and tell all. Oh and he is a consistant liar too!

    Consistant, yes. A leader??? NO.


    Patrick wrote on April 05, 2009 10:40 PM: PS patrick and Marcus.

    Nevada has the 7th highest income per capita and the 14th lowest poverty rate.

    pretty darn good for a state that has 42nd per pupil spending and one of the lowest college graduation rates in the county....kinda proves that big government doesn't really improve the economy.


    Patrick wrote on April 05, 2009 10:39 PM: Marcus and patrick

    There is some serious fundamental flaws in your political theory that are just too aggravating to list.

    But let me take a serious stab at it.

    You believe that the government can spend money more to the benefit of each of us in society and spend it more wisely than each of us can and do so without any incentive to provide us a quality service or measure of accountability that limits waste.

    We spend $9 billion a year with no incentives for efficiency, no rewards for effort, no punishment for excesses, hell no real way to prevent waste and no real way to hold all the policy makers accountable except for rare elections which occur years after they do their harm.

    There are some serious flaws with this theory...I guess it is easy to accept if you just turn a blind eye to the corruption, waste and incompetence.


    Steve wrote on April 05, 2009 04:09 PM: vik,

    Why don't you ask the robots named Reid, Pelosi, Buckley, et al who just say yes to tax increases and no to tax cuts and no to reductions in spending.


    vik wrote on April 05, 2009 02:13 PM: So the author is saying you just need a robot in office who can say yes to tax cut and no to tax increases. What is the IQ needed for such tough decision making prowess.


    patrick wrote on April 05, 2009 01:57 PM: Well said Marcus!


    Marcus wrote on April 05, 2009 01:42 PM: Mr. Uithoven's history of Gibbons's rise teaches us that a primitive-brained but cynical politician who understands one ugly truth can go far in this world, especially in Nevada. People in this state believe that they are self-reliant pioneers, when the truth is for decades we’ve been subsidized by the money dropped in slot machines by visitors, and we don't have any idea what it means to really be citizens, or be responsible for the services and upkeep of a society ourselves. Gibbons and his trainers' genius is to keep up the illusion that we don't have to pay our own ticket, we can just wait for the feeding trough to be filled up again by someone else. And they sell this as libertarian nonsense about limited government.

    If the unemployment rate is above 10% here, it isn't because of taxes oppressing our capitalist-hero pawn shops operators, payday loan sharks, smoke-filled pub owners, or masseurs. It's because our phony economy is based on semi-educated and semi-skilled people providing entertainment and luxury that no one's buying right now, and we've got nothing else to offer. We can't tie our own shoes. We can mix drinks, open doors, and wash cars. If we've got no big talent pool here, it's because we don't build anything that would bring it or keep it here, and there’s no one for talented, smart people to talk to or marry or let their kids play with. If we've got no health care and education, it's because we don't pay for it and don't care about ourselves or our families. We keep electing Gibbons-like stooges and funneling money to political con men like Uithoven not because they're smart, but because we've just become that lazy and stupid.


    tom wrote on April 05, 2009 12:42 PM: If you have the money you will spend it no matter what tax you pay. Do people really say well i have to pay .5 cents more for this so i dont want it. No they dont and if they do they probably should stay at home. Just like this cig tax, if you have the money to spend then so what about it costing more, yeah it sucks but oh well. If people would save money starting when they are young then they wouldnt have to worry about that extra dime they have to pay. and is any one else sick of seeing this blogger who rants about the county paramedic. Who cares about that guy anyways. He's jealous he cant get paid and stay home.


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