Leaders Raise Taxes?
By: Doug Busselman, Executive Vice President
With Nevada Governor Jim Gibbons scheduled to soon deliver his State-of-the-State Address, the push is on to do all that is possible to publicly vilify him for the anticipated approach he will offer of not increasing taxes and not proposing a budget that includes the increases we’re supposed to believe are mandatory for Nevada to remain part of the civilized world.
During my Sunday visit to the Las Vegas Sun’s internet edition it was fairly obvious of what the most recent editorial meeting must have been about. The company line, which seems to be playing off the same game plan as the advocates of more spending within the state’s higher education community and the majority party in the state legislature – “Leaders Raise Taxes”.
The Sun editorial “In need of a vision” http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2009/jan/11/need-vision/
I read early Sunday morning laid it out very clearly…
“The void of leadership in the governor’s office has left the state in dire need of someone else to provide a vision for the future. It will be up to the Legislature.
Lawmakers will have to make some difficult decisions and overhaul the state’s antiquated tax code if there is to be any significant level of services left. The bottom line is: The state cannot drastically cut its way to a prosperous future.”
In his on-going campaign to stress the importance of increasing taxes – so spending can be increased, columnist Jon Ralston in his piece “How Nevada was set on the path to this budget nightmare” http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2009/jan/11/how-nevada-was-set-path-budget-nightmare/
harkened back to the speech former Governor Kenny Quinn made in his State-of-the-State Address which came just before the Nevada Legislature raised taxes like they never have done before…
“One choice may be easy to make, but hard to endure. It is a road that is shortsighted and paved with irresponsibility. The legacy of once again running from our duty as leaders will produce a devastating effect on every single Nevadan.”
In the “news” portion of the e-publication, a comprehensive feature “THE FUTURE OF NEVADA: More cuts, or progress?” by: J. Patrick Coolican http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2009/jan/11/more-cuts-or-progress/ covered several situations where people of need have been or are in the process of being in need will be left without the help they ought to have. In his summary points at the end of the “news” story, Coolican pointed out in his words (not as a quote attributed to any source)…
“And so, here is the choice: Is Nevada a community that values knowledge, culture and progress, nurtures the young, cares for the sick and disabled and looks forward to a future of shared security and prosperity?
If the governor cuts as he has promised, and legislators don’t intervene, Nevada will be something else entirely.”
Given the fact that the Nevada Assembly is under the complete veto-proof control of the majority party, it’s worth noting the “leadership means tax increases” theme is being promoted loudly. Washoe County, District 27 Assemblywoman Sheila Lesley shared her thoughts in a Letter to the Editor of the Reno Gazette Journal. http://www.rgj.com/article/20090111/OPED04/901110320/1098/OPED
Assemblywoman is vice chairman of the Ways and Means Committee and was commenting on an editorial that hadn’t supported the mantra of cutting spending is unacceptable.
Her letter also pointed out…
“While it is certainly true that many businesses are experiencing revenue reductions, it is also true that some businesses, such as mining, currently are doing quite well. It's also true that most states have a broad-based business tax on profits as part of their budget. Nevada also provides many long-sacred tax breaks and abatements that further complicate our budget predicament.”
Level Isn’t Less
We need to keep the current budget crisis in perspective, in spite of the media and legislative leadership push to set the stage for another round of tax increases. When you have the same amount of revenue coming in – that is not a decline…just because you expected more and planned to spend more it’s still not reduced. At the same time, if you’ve got the same amount of income and you spend in the same fashion…that’s not cutting spending.
Our problem is that the “leaders” of the Nevada Legislature have a mind-set that they have to have more to spend and if the automatic increases aren’t possible with level revenues – spending the same amount has to be a “cut”.
The public debate needs to be based on honesty, with recognition that our “disastrous state budgetary condition” is a level revenue stream can’t cover the significant increases in spending that our “leaders” maintain are essential.
With Nevada Governor Jim Gibbons scheduled to soon deliver his State-of-the-State Address, the push is on to do all that is possible to publicly vilify him for the anticipated approach he will offer of not increasing taxes and not proposing a budget that includes the increases we’re supposed to believe are mandatory for Nevada to remain part of the civilized world.
During my Sunday visit to the Las Vegas Sun’s internet edition it was fairly obvious of what the most recent editorial meeting must have been about. The company line, which seems to be playing off the same game plan as the advocates of more spending within the state’s higher education community and the majority party in the state legislature – “Leaders Raise Taxes”.
The Sun editorial “In need of a vision” http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2009/jan/11/need-vision/
I read early Sunday morning laid it out very clearly…
“The void of leadership in the governor’s office has left the state in dire need of someone else to provide a vision for the future. It will be up to the Legislature.
Lawmakers will have to make some difficult decisions and overhaul the state’s antiquated tax code if there is to be any significant level of services left. The bottom line is: The state cannot drastically cut its way to a prosperous future.”
In his on-going campaign to stress the importance of increasing taxes – so spending can be increased, columnist Jon Ralston in his piece “How Nevada was set on the path to this budget nightmare” http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2009/jan/11/how-nevada-was-set-path-budget-nightmare/
harkened back to the speech former Governor Kenny Quinn made in his State-of-the-State Address which came just before the Nevada Legislature raised taxes like they never have done before…
“One choice may be easy to make, but hard to endure. It is a road that is shortsighted and paved with irresponsibility. The legacy of once again running from our duty as leaders will produce a devastating effect on every single Nevadan.”
In the “news” portion of the e-publication, a comprehensive feature “THE FUTURE OF NEVADA: More cuts, or progress?” by: J. Patrick Coolican http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2009/jan/11/more-cuts-or-progress/ covered several situations where people of need have been or are in the process of being in need will be left without the help they ought to have. In his summary points at the end of the “news” story, Coolican pointed out in his words (not as a quote attributed to any source)…
“And so, here is the choice: Is Nevada a community that values knowledge, culture and progress, nurtures the young, cares for the sick and disabled and looks forward to a future of shared security and prosperity?
If the governor cuts as he has promised, and legislators don’t intervene, Nevada will be something else entirely.”
Given the fact that the Nevada Assembly is under the complete veto-proof control of the majority party, it’s worth noting the “leadership means tax increases” theme is being promoted loudly. Washoe County, District 27 Assemblywoman Sheila Lesley shared her thoughts in a Letter to the Editor of the Reno Gazette Journal. http://www.rgj.com/article/20090111/OPED04/901110320/1098/OPED
Assemblywoman is vice chairman of the Ways and Means Committee and was commenting on an editorial that hadn’t supported the mantra of cutting spending is unacceptable.
Her letter also pointed out…
“While it is certainly true that many businesses are experiencing revenue reductions, it is also true that some businesses, such as mining, currently are doing quite well. It's also true that most states have a broad-based business tax on profits as part of their budget. Nevada also provides many long-sacred tax breaks and abatements that further complicate our budget predicament.”
Level Isn’t Less
We need to keep the current budget crisis in perspective, in spite of the media and legislative leadership push to set the stage for another round of tax increases. When you have the same amount of revenue coming in – that is not a decline…just because you expected more and planned to spend more it’s still not reduced. At the same time, if you’ve got the same amount of income and you spend in the same fashion…that’s not cutting spending.
Our problem is that the “leaders” of the Nevada Legislature have a mind-set that they have to have more to spend and if the automatic increases aren’t possible with level revenues – spending the same amount has to be a “cut”.
The public debate needs to be based on honesty, with recognition that our “disastrous state budgetary condition” is a level revenue stream can’t cover the significant increases in spending that our “leaders” maintain are essential.
Doug, Looking at the RGJ article today about the Governor's budget dilemma, underscores my last post concerning the compensation of public employees. Salaries are the biggest part of the pie, and would make the biggest impact on cutting spending. I am not advocating large salary cuts, but I think that we need to better define employee compensation; and comparisons of public and private compensation packages should be investigated further. Prevailing wage is also an area to be looked to save money in public projects. Sure we can cut non-essential programs, but some of these programs like economic development may be as devastating to the economy as raising taxes on businesses.
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