A math quiz for the governor

For nearly a month, Gov. Kenny Guinn has been arguing two-thirds of lawmakers should be willing to support taxes because more than two-thirds of the Legislature voted for the budget.

The Appeal has avoided using his argument that 71 percent of lawmakers voted for the budget because the Nevada Constitution clearly says two-thirds of each house must support any tax increase.

But since Guinn uses the number relentlessly and others have repeated it, it's necessary to explain that it's bad math.

In fact, 17 senators and 24 Assembly members voted for the budget. That's 41 out of 63 legislators or 65 percent. Which is just under two-thirds.

To get to 71 percent, which is more than two-thirds, the governor calculated separately the Senate vote (17 of 20 present, or 85 percent) and the Assembly vote (24 of 42, or 57 percent). Then he added the two percentages together -- 142 percent -- and divided by two.

That's 71 percent but it's bad math because it gives twice as much weight to each senator who voted for the budget as it gives to each Assembly member who voted against it.

It's the same as saying Carson City has two water tanks: the 50,000-gallon tank is 100 percent full but the 100,000- gallon tank is empty -- 0 percent. Using the governor's math, you'd add the two percentages and divide by two, concluding that the city's water reserves were at 50 percent.

Any student who passed the math proficiency exam can tell you the actual reserve is 33 percent -- 50,000 gallons out of a total 150,000 storage capacity.

Those same students would tell you only 65 percent of the Legislature as a whole voted for the budget. That's remarkably close to the 64 percent of Assembly members who voted for the tax plan -- 27-15.

And both are below 66.6 percent, which is two-thirds.

Maybe candidates for governor should be required to pass the math proficiency exam.