Two budget visions for Nevada

The budget-balancing plan offered this week by Gardnerville Republican Lynn Hettrick has something for everybody to like -- and to dislike.

In that respect, perhaps, it is similar to Gov. Kenny Guinn's proposal. But the comparisons end fairly quickly, because the intent of each is in sharp contrast.

The plan outlined by Hettrick and backed in concept by most of the Assembly's GOP contingent would dial back the state's sales tax by 2 percent, which represents a big gamble to pump up Nevada's retail and tourism industries.

We'd all like to pay less in taxes, so residents get a warm glow from the sales-tax idea. But there will be social costs to such a move, as the tax cut would be feasible only if some $270 million in programs -- health for seniors and poor people, kindergarten, welfare, aid for families -- is backed out of the budget.

The ideas from Hettrick's group don't include a gross receipts tax on businesses, handily doing away with the most controversial aspect of Guinn's revenue budget. Maybe it was a coincidence that Chamber of Commerce Day fell on the same day the Assembly Republicans' plan was unveiled. Probably not, though.

But the Assembly Republicans do see the need to boost revenues by $300 million, part of it coming from a higher tax on casino gross revenues and from taxes on property transactions and some services. So not everybody with Chamber of Commerce membership is going to be happy.

The Assembly Republicans' plan isn't the only idea floating around the Legislature, but it's a comprehensive one to rival Guinn's. They are to be commended for getting it on the table. Rather than adding confusion to the debate, we think it will help focus the Legislature as it attempts to solve the budget puzzle.

Lawmakers now have two broad -- and divergent -- visions from which to fashion the future of Nevada: Guinn's push for a higher-taxed, more-responsive state government, and Hettrick's outline of a scaled-back, business-happy Nevada.

At this point, it seems neither has enough votes to prevail outright. The result may well be a series of compromises, but which way they lean remains to be seen.