“Speaker Barbara Buckley said she believed two thirds of the lower house would approve a mélange of taxes,” wrote Jon Ralston in his “Flash” e-newsletter yesterday. “She said out of dozens considered, eight or so remain standing, including a depreciation schedule for car registration, a trucker user fee and perhaps a car rental tax.”
Make no mistake. Whether or not taxes are raised this year is absolutely, positively, completely and totally in the hands of Assembly Republicans.
Thanks to the Gibbons Tax Restraint Initiative, it takes a 2/3-vote in both legislative bodies to pass a tax increase. That means Buckley needs 28 votes to pass her “mélange of taxes.” But she only has 27 Democrats. Which means she HAS to pull over to her tax-hiking side at least one Republican. Which means the 15 Assembly Republicans, if they hang together, can block any and all efforts to raise taxes this session.
Gut-check time.
This is where we’ll see if Assembly Minority Leader Garn Mabey has the right stuff. He needs to exert iron-fisted leadership here and MAKE SURE not a single Republican in his caucus goes over to the dark side. He needs to enforce unity on EVERY vote to increase taxes in the Assembly. THAT would make his “Meaningless 15” meaningful. But if even one Republican defects, the tax hikes will be considered “bi-partisan” and the GOP will have squandered the political advantage on this issue…again.
Any Republican Assembly member who votes for a tax hike deserves to be challenged BIG TIME in a GOP primary next year. And if Mabey loses even one member of his caucus on a tax hike vote between now and the end of the session, he’s got to go. Republicans can’t afford a leader who doesn’t know how to lead on an issue this important to the GOP’s rank-and-file.
If Mabey gives up the tax issue to the Democrats again this session, it’ll be time to break out the pitchforks, the tar and the feathers.
Posted on May 3rd, 2007 by Chuck Muth
Filed under: Nevada
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