Bill renames Nevada 'East California'

An anonymous legislator has asked for a bill to change Nevada's name to East California and change the state song to "The Tax Man" -- teasing Gov. Kenny Guinn about his $1 billion tax proposal.

The name change was on a list of bill draft requests from individual lawmakers. While many proposals name the legislator who requested the draft, it's not required, and there was no name on the "East California" request.

Guinn didn't seem amused. Greg Bortolin, the Republican governor's press secretary, said, "In these economic hard times, it's tragic that we're wasting money on things like this."

"Further, it's cowardice for someone not to come forward and take credit for this," Bortolin said. "And if it's coming from some of the governor's critics, it's ironic that they'd be wasting money like this."

Besides the play on the Beatles' "Taxman" song, the bill also changes the state animal from the desert bighorn sheep to a "RINO," apparently an acronym for Republican In Name Only.

The Republican governor's tax plan is aimed at filling a $700 million-plus revenue shortfall and providing some new funds for allowing some program improvements to deal with demands created by population growth.

But critics of the plan have pressed for explanations of the governor's revenue projections from the new taxes, and say he hasn't proved his claims about the deficit. They contend the tax hike plan actually could create a huge surplus.

New business taxes form the core of the governor's record tax hike proposal. The plan also calls for a cut of the property taxes that now go mainly to local governments, hikes in cigarette and liquor taxes and a new entertainment tax on concerts and movies. Also proposed are increases in fees charged by the secretary of state's office.

Guinn based his tax plan on recommendations from a special study panel that analyzed Nevada's tax structure and recommended major changes to broaden the tax base and ease the state's reliance on tourism-dependent revenue sources.