Budgets nearly complete as tax debate continues

The state Legislature's money committees will meet this afternoon to attempt to resolve differences between the Senate and Assembly versions of the budget.

All but one or two budgets have been closed by both the Senate Finance and Assembly Ways and Means committees.

Meanwhile, the taxation committees have yet to vote on a tax plan to pay for them. The Senate Taxation Committee heard several new ideas Monday evening but took no action. Chairman Mike McGinness, R-Fallon, is hoping to vote on a plan this afternoon.

The Assembly Taxation Committee heard a modified version of the gross-receipts tax Tuesday. Again, no action was taken.

Their inaction, in effect, forced Finance Chairman Bill Raggio, R-Reno, and Ways and Means Chairman Morse Arberry, D-Las Vegas, to begin closing budgets last month without knowing how revenues would be raised.

Legislative fiscal analysts say the the budget will be finished before the end of the week.

Then it will be up to the rest of the Legislature to fund the spending package totaling just about $5 billion over two years. That will require tax increases hovering around the $1 billion mark for the biennium -- close to the $994 million total proposed by Gov. Kenny Guinn when he presented the budget in January.

Guinn said he isn't surprised because his staff did its best to eliminate waste without cutting necessary services.

He also said he's not surprised they are doing the budget first and taxes second.

"That's kind of the way we had to do it when we built the budget," he said.

He said legislators first have to decide what services and programs are necessary and then figure out how to fund them.

The Assembly version of the budget calls for about $1.06 billion more than current revenues, while the Senate version would require about $830 million in new taxes.

Through most of the budgets, there is little significant disagreement. Almost all of the $240 million difference is in budgets funding public education. And more than half of that total is in the Assembly decision to give teachers 4 percent pay raises each of the next two years -- a total of nearly $140 million more than the governor recommended -- and $46 million cut by the Senate decision to soften class-size reduction requirements.