By:  Doug Busselman, Executive Vice President

In the post we offered yesterday we reiterated the numbers that keep showing that Nevada’s “revenue problem” is that the amount of money coming into the state’s general fund is level.  And, this is supposed to prove that we don’t have a spending problem?

To be crystal clear, we don’t believe that tax increases are the way to go.  Our organization’s policy states:

New Taxes:      255
  We oppose any new taxes, fees or any other schemes that generate additional revenue for government without Farm Bureau involvement and approval.

Our positions also clearly record our specific opposition to taxing business profits or gross receipts.

This stance on increasing Nevada taxes puts us into the same group as others who pro-tax increasers strive to marginalize – including and especially Nevada Governor Jim Gibbons.  Supposedly, if you’re not on board with the general game plan (although not actually identified) of increasing taxes…you’re woefully out of touch and terribly wrong.

There were two special legislative sessions in 2008 to reduce state spending.  We’re supposed to be painfully aware that there is a crisis, which can only be resolved with more revenue for government officials to spend.  At the one-day December get-together, to rubber stamp the pre-determined and agreed on package of legislative solutions, the theme was that while the actions taken were not good enough for the long-term, wait til 2009, when “we” (the Nevada Legislature) will correct the problem.

More Taxes & Better Taxes:

Various representatives of the majority party in the Nevada Assembly have been quite vocal in maintaining that the solution they see as necessary are improvements in the state’s tax structure.  We suspect (based on past experiences of the same type of public policy “discussion”) that this change to the state’s tax structure is “Legilative Speak” for seeking the expansion of ways that targeted entities will be able to increase their level of contributions to the state coffers.

We also suspect that “the solution” will have some relationship to the defined amount of need that those championing “More” come up with.

As detailed yesterday, there is some idea that the need to stay even is in the neighborhood of $2.3 billion more (and that’s coming from the camp that supposedly doesn’t think we ought to have any tax increases).  Who knows where the figures are going to be, coming from the majority leadership in the Legislature!

If It Ain’t Going Up – It Ain’t Good Government:

After a steady trend (made largely possible by the largest tax increase in Nevada’s history) of more revenue coming into Nevada’s coffers (particularily the General Fund) the expectation is that anything other than “more” is unacceptable.  We’re supposed to understand that Nevada Government just can’t be as good as it needs to be, if it doesn’t get more to be better with.

Better government is a worthy objective to want, but “more” does not automatically equate to quality.

As the legislative session plays itself out we need to press for detailed information on what we’re getting now – what more we’re supposed to be getting and who’s going to get to pay more so “we” can have what we should be having, thanks to Nevada government.