Is it a tax? Or a fee?
If a rose by any other name would smell as sweet, would a tax by another name be as odious?
Just in case anybody thinks the nomenclature of Gov. Brian Sandoval’s big revenue ask — changing the state’s business license “fee” to a progressive system that starts at $400 and ends north of $4 million, depending on a company’s gross revenue — is an attempt to dodge the two-thirds requirement to raise taxes, think again.
Former Gov. Jim Gibbons made many mistakes in his political life, but when it came to writing the infamous Gibbons Tax Restraint Initiative, he was thorough. Now enshrined in Article 4, Section 18(2) of the Nevada Constitution, it reads as follows: “Except as otherwise provided in subsection 3, an affirmative vote of not fewer than two-thirds of the members elected to each House is necessary to pass a bill or joint resolution which creates, generates, or increases any public revenue in any form, including but not limited to taxes, fees, assessments and rates, or changes in the computation bases for taxes, fees, assessments and rates.” (emphasis added)
That’s right: Whether you call it a fee, a tax, an assessment or a duck-billed platypus, if the state gets more money, you need a two-thirds vote.
And that might become an issue as the 2015 Legislature unfolds. A contingent of conservatives in the Assembly is mobilizing to block any tax increase.
Assemblywoman Michele Fiore, R-Las Vegas, last week told the Republican Men’s Club of Northern Nevada that she knows of 12 solid votes against the governor’s tax plan, even if the precise details haven’t been unveiled yet. And she says she’s looking for the additional three votes that would constitute a 15-member coalition sufficient to deny the Assembly the two-thirds support necessary for raising a tax/fee/assessment/duck-billed platypus.
“This business license [fee] is basically a gross receipts tax, period,” Fiore said, according to the Reno Gazette-Journal’s Ray Hagar. “This business license tax will reflect on the gross income of a business and that is not OK.”
Why not, since progressive taxation is a longtime staple of the American tax system? And Nevada is but one of four states in the union that doesn’t tax business revenue? Well, we’ll have plenty of time to get those questions answered, according to Fiore: “I’m telling you right now, the session will not be ending in June. We will have a special session,” she promised.
Wonderful. I love Carson City in the summertime!
While Fiore sometimes blurts things that later prove inaccurate, she’s not making this one up. I also count 12 solid votes against the tax plan among the Republican caucus. There’s an additional nine or so Republicans who have either said they will vote for it, or are open to the idea, and four whose positions can’t be determined, at least from their campaign statements. (In the Senate, I count just three solid no votes against the governor’s plan, so the action this time around will be entirely in the Assembly.)
Fiore’s skill is in her grass-roots campaigning and organizing. She’s patient and dedicated, and there should be no doubt she’ll assiduously work the undecided votes in her caucus. And she’ll have plenty of material: In the last four years, voters have rejected a property tax increase to build new schools and improve existing ones in Clark County, a property tax increase to keep libraries open in Henderson and a 2 percent margins tax on business to fund education. On top of that, the county commissions in Clark and Washoe counties have rejected tax increases authorized by the Legislature and the governor for things such as police officers and school maintenance, respectively.
Oh, and don’t forget the last time an actual gross receipts tax was proposed, in 2003: It died in the Legislature at the hands of a committed Republican minority.
No matter what you call it, the governor’s revenue plan faces some rough waters before the session — sessions? — finally come to a close.
Steve Sebelius is a Las Vegas Review-Journal political columnist who blogs at SlashPolitics.com. Follow him on Twitter (@SteveSebelius) or reach him at 702-387-5276 or ssebelius@reviewjournal.com.
