Governor opposes funding for tax study

With Gov. Jim Gibbons voting no, the Board of Examiners Tuesday approved spending $500,000 to study the state's tax and revenue system.

"Why spend a half million of taxpayer money to come to a predisposed conclusion?" the governor asked.

Gibbons said lawmakers supporting the tax study believe Nevada needs to change its tax base, "which I totally disagree with."

The vote was consistent with his veto of the tax study bill at the end of the 2009 Legislature, which forced lawmakers to pass legislation creating the study without funding it.

The recommendation was approved because the other two members of the board, Attorney General Catherine Cortez Masto and Secretary of State Ross Miller, voted for it.

Gibbons also asked how lawmakers arrived at that amount since they haven't chosen from among the eight bidders to conduct the study.

Legislative Counsel Bureau Director Lorne Malkiewich said lawmakers directed him to bring the proposal to the board to help expedite the process of working out a contract with one of the bidders. He pointed out that six of the eight bids are at or below $500,000.

The Board of Examiners only makes recommendations to the legislative Interim Finance Committee. The IFC could raise the amount to match the highest of the bidders, the University of Nevada Reno Center for Regional Studies at $909,861.

By contrast, the low bid was $32,200 from UNLV Economics Professor Bill Robinson. Gibbons said after the meeting if they were going to accept any bid, that one would be his recommendation, to save taxpayer dollars.

The study was strongly backed by Senate Minority Leader Bill Raggio, R-Reno, who said the goal is an objective review of Nevada's tax system lawmakers can use to overhaul it in the 2011 Legislature.