Politics:

For Democrats, Senate’s passage of Sandoval tax plan is bittersweet

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Cathleen Allison / AP

Nevada Senate Majority Leader Michael Roberson speaks during Senate floor debate on Gov. Brian Sandoval’s tax proposal to overhaul the state’s business license fees at the Legislative Building in Carson City on Tuesday, April 21, 2015.

Wed, Apr 22, 2015 (2 a.m.)

For Democratic Sen. Tick Segerblom, Tuesday yielded a victory five sessions in the making.

Senate lawmakers passed into the Assembly a tax measure, SB 252, that’s backed by GOP Gov. Brian Sandoval that would annually raise $430 million to fund education and other programs.

The rub for Segerblom, though, was that his party didn’t have its name on the legislation.

Segerblom, a Las Vegas lawmaker serving in his fifth legislative term, and his colleagues have championed tax increases in every session since 2007. But despite holding a majority in both chambers of the Legislature, the Democrats’ efforts did little to provide new revenues for education. During Segerblom’s time in office, both parties have fought to fill the budget shortfalls posed by the recession and raise more money for government.

Segerblom applauded Republicans on the floor for “biting the bullet on taxes” and blamed them for not calling to do so sooner.

“It hasn’t been our side" that has held up an increase, he told Republicans on the Senate floor. “It’s been your side.”

Although many see the Republican move on taxes as a 180-degree shift, it’s not the party’s first tax increase since the 2003 payroll tax passed the Legislature.

Republicans and Democrats in 2009 overcame a veto by Gov. Jim Gibbons to pass the $600 million sunset tax package. Sandoval renewed that measure twice and has pressed lawmakers to make them permanent.

But proposals for other monies never passed.

Tuesday’s passage of Sandoval’s plan is a bittersweet moment for Democrats. The party — out of power in both legislative chambers for the first time since 1985 — had little leverage to squelch Republican-backed measures they opposed. But GOP leadership did promise that voting in favor of the governor’s plan would ensure that interfering with voter registration, early voting and the ballot initiative process — all measures opposed by Democrats — would either die or be significantly changed in return for their support on Sandoval’s tax measure.

It passed by a 17-4 vote, with the four no votes coming not from Democrats but from anti-tax conservatives in Sandoval's own party.

All 10 Democrats in the chamber voted in favor, and Democratic Senate Minority Leader, Aaron Ford, thanked Sandoval after the bill passed, calling it a substantial revenue source to “properly fund schools and other services.”

But history is likely to show that it was pushed and passed by Senate Republicans. And if some version of it passes the Assembly and lands on Sandoval’s desk, it will be touted by Republicans as the saving grace of an education system that now sits at the bottom of numerous national rankings.

During a Senate recess on Tuesday, Segerblom had his feet up in his office. He was relieved that the measure cleared the floor of his chamber. And he emphasized the bipartisan effort of passing any tax measure in the state, which requires a two-thirds majority vote to pass a new tax.

“[Tax increases] have to be mutual,” he said. “Our party can’t and couldn’t do it. When we were in control, we couldn’t get the two-thirds."

The bipartisan effort is one of the many anomalies of the 78th session. Sandoval is one of at least 10 Republican governors calling for hikes across the nation. Republicans in his party, traditionally known for its pro-business, no tax ideology, have been quick to solicit the tax hike as a broad-based, low-rate way to raise more money for schools ands transform the state.

Before the vote on the Senate floor, Senate Majority Leader Michael Roberson did just that. For weeks, he counted votes and lobbied on behalf for the measure on behalf of the governor and students. Roberson, once branded as a no-tax Republican, didn’t mince words when he spoke in favor of the measure.

“We were all elected to solve problems and find solutions,” Roberson said. “That is the case irrespective of party affiliation… Today’s vote is not about the next election, but rather the next generation. The voters may not agree with every decision or vote we take. But I assure you they are looking for people with courage to stand for something more than just ourselves and the next election.”

Sandoval’s tax already has provided lawmakers this session with a mix of heartburn and optimism. And plenty more will come. It’s been compared to the margin tax ballot initiative that 80 percent of Nevada voters opposed in the 2014 election. The margin tax was a 2 percent tax levied on gross revenues on businesses throughout the state and would have raised an estimated $800 million per year. Sandoval’s plan taxes businesses at varying rates and is estimated to raise more than $430 million per year. The governor’s measure is a broad-based, revamped version of an existing business license fee.

It’s headed to the Assembly, home to a swath of no-new-tax lawmakers and alternative proposals that have gained traction among some in the business community.

GOP Assemblyman and Majority Whip Jim Wheeler said he expected a compromise on Sandoval’s plan, but not in its current form.

“The votes are not here for that proposal,” he said.

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