Gibbons Hypocritical with Tax Criticism

A name-calling attack ad unleashed on unsuspecting voters today should serve to illuminate the hypocrisy of Republican Congressman Jim Gibbons, who as a Nevada legislator voted to raise taxes and fees more than 100 times, and as a member of the House of Representatives has sent the federal deficit to astronomical heights.

Where Nevada has a constitutional requirement for a balanced budget, the Federal government does not, which is why Gibbons was able to vote in 2002 to increase the national debt limit by $450 billion to $6.4 trillion (the largest increase in history at that time) - allowing the Federal government to borrow more money to finance its operations.

Congressman Gibbons cast the deciding vote to raise the debt limit (final vote: 215-214), allowing the Republican-controlled administration to resume deficit spending after four previous years of balanced budgets.

While Congressman Gibbons was in Washington, squandering the surplus and saddling future generations with astronomical debt - now topping a staggering $8.5 trillion, Senator Dina Titus was fighting in Nevada for lower property taxes - a fact the congressman conveniently neglects to mention in his advertisement.
Her bill to freeze Nevada's property tax was the basis for a bipartisan tax cap of 3 percent. In a speech on the Senate floor, Republican Senator Randolph Townsend credited Titus' freeze with helping "bring down" the property tax cap from 6 percent or higher to 3 percent for owner-occupied homes. "She has helped bring about the level of relief we have today," Townsend said. "She has shaped this argument."

During his own tenure in the Nevada Legislature, Congressman Gibbons voted more than 100 times to raise taxes and fees - or to authorize others to raise them. For example, in 1989 he supported legislation mandating county property tax hikes (AB 45) and supported raising the state property tax rate (AB 961). In 1991 he backed a gas tax hike of five cents per gallon (SB 441), and in 1993 not only increased state property taxes again (AB 788), but also increased business tax assessments for the state's largest employers (AB 394).

These are just a few examples of the congressman's blatant tax hypocrisy. He also supported legislation authorizing other agencies to raise taxes, including 1989 legislation removing a requirement that voters approve a one cent county gas tax hike, allowing county commissions to directly impose the tax increase. He took this further in 1991, allowing counties to impose a five cent gas tax increase without going to the voters.

Senator Titus finds it disappointing that the first sound heard from the Gibbons campaign is a negative attack. "Nevada voters want a productive discussion of issues important to this state - issues like education, access to health care, government ethics and preservation of our natural resources," she said. "It's disappointing to see a name-calling negative, and while that may be the way things are done in Washington, I think Nevada's voters deserve better."

http://www.dinatitus.com/index.php?section=news&id=836