Gibbons rejects tax limit amendment

After two months of verbal battering by his primary GOP opponent for not taking a stand, Nevada governor candidate Jim Gibbons has come out against a proposed statewide tax and spending limit.

The Tax and Spending Control amendment is the centerpiece of state Sen. Bob Beers' campaign for governor. Modeled after the limits imposed several years ago by Colorado voters, the proposed constitutional amendment would limit increases in governmental spending to no more than inflation plus population growth.

Colorado residents last fall voted to suspend those limits, agreeing the state was in dire financial straits and unable to provide vital services because of it.

Beers has been pushing Gibbons, a fellow Republican who represents Nevada's Second District in the U.S. House, to take a stand on the issue, calling it the most important issue in the race for governor this year. He has used nearly every campaign and party gathering the two have attended together to push Gibbons for an answer, but Gibbons has declined to take a position until he reviewed it in detail.

He did so late Thursday, announcing he opposes the amendment because it would impose an arbitrary formula on governments in the state.

"Spending should be based on needs and resources, not on an arbitrary formula," Gibbons said.

"In a first term as your governor, I will twice have the ability to submit budgets to the Legislature. In neither situation will I need a proposal like TASC to guide me and my principles of fiscal responsibility, or to remind me of who works to pay the bills."

Beers is the only one of five candidates in the race supporting the amendment. He responded to Gibbons' announcement by saying, "Bureaucrats rejoice, Gibbons stands with you."

"It's unfortunate that the congressman has decided he doesn't trust the taxpayers with control over how their tax dollars are spent," he said. "But I suppose we shouldn't be all that surprised. Congressman Gibbons' time in Washington has clearly disconnected him from the concerns of Nevadans and he obviously has no interest in standing up for the taxpayers."

Gibbons said as governor, he will manage the state's finances and, "if I believe that the Legislature has attempted to place an unfair burden on the taxpayers of Nevada, I will veto the budget they send me."

He said he would eliminate programs that are failing and, if the state collects more revenue than it needs to meet obligations, he would refund the excess to the people.

"TASC is lengthy, vague and confusing," he said. "I recently raised a number of questions to the TASC committee and their answers did not satisfy my concerns."

He pointed out the Nevada Taxpayer's Association has rejected the proposed amendment as well in an analysis calling some provisions unrealistic and cumbersome.

In addition to Gibbons, both Democrats - Henderson Mayor Jim Gibson and Senate Minority Leader Dina Titus - and the third Republican in the race, Lt. Gov. Lorraine Hunt, have said they are against the amendment.

-- Contact reporter Geoff Dornan at gdornan@nevadaappeal.com or 687-8750.

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