Nevada Legislature -- Taxing Our Way To More Spending
By: Doug Busselman, Executive Vice President
As the 2009 Nevada Legislature continues to unfold, the biggest issue and priority item is dealing with a budget, proposed by Governor Gibbons, which doesn't allocate enough money to cover the level of spending that a majority of legislators would like to see spent in the coming biennium.
The shortfall is possibly in the neighborhood of $2.something billion shy of where those who receive general fund dollars would obtain all they've had in the past -- and then some.
It seems that when you receive general fund dollars from Nevada coffers there is supposed to be an automatic increase in how much you get and something other than that outcome is not acceptable.
Earlier this session, Nevada legislators passed the third largest tax increase Nevada has ever had. In a "raise taxes or else it get done through the initiative ballot process" legislators gave their okay to the state's teachers union's bite off the top of room taxes collected in Clark and Washoe Counties.
The third largest tax increase in the state's history -- and that still isn't enough to fund the point where we're supposed to be...
Three sessions ago, during the 2009 Nevada Legislative session, lawmakers passed the largest tax increase ever (although we might expect this session's final actions to surpass that one). At that point, the state wasn't facing an actual "crisis" like we are this session.
The Nevada Policy Research Institute has recently written about the results of the 2003 tax increases and the fashion in which having this significant flush of cash brought about even more rampant spending, getting us to the point where we are today.
It should always be remembered that our current budget crisis is the result of expecting to get about the same amount of revenue as was obtained the last two-year period (although the weakening economy is starting to cause some of those levels to leak into an actual slight decline).
It would be difficult to find anyone who doesn't expect that the Nevada Legislature won't increase taxes again during this session. Most logical-thinkers the increases will come in the form of higher rates for existing taxes, since the state already has the system in place to get "their" money. It also has to do with the speed in which the revenue can be obtained, because the anticipated biggest problem might be a cash-flow problem as much as an overall revenue problem.
If voters are considering any ideas of holding their representatives accountable for pushing the green "Yea" buttons for higher taxes it might be worth paying as close attention to whether any types of spending reductions come along with the increased tax bill.
We should also see and factor in what other pots of money the legislators might raid to get them where they believe they want to be. During the special sessions for fixing budget problmes the state turned to taking local government funding -- something that might be expanded on during this session.
The future of our state might not be defined so much by a direction that our "leaders" encourage us to go as a default expectation that no matter how much our government is spending -- there's got to be more.
As the 2009 Nevada Legislature continues to unfold, the biggest issue and priority item is dealing with a budget, proposed by Governor Gibbons, which doesn't allocate enough money to cover the level of spending that a majority of legislators would like to see spent in the coming biennium.
The shortfall is possibly in the neighborhood of $2.something billion shy of where those who receive general fund dollars would obtain all they've had in the past -- and then some.
It seems that when you receive general fund dollars from Nevada coffers there is supposed to be an automatic increase in how much you get and something other than that outcome is not acceptable.
Earlier this session, Nevada legislators passed the third largest tax increase Nevada has ever had. In a "raise taxes or else it get done through the initiative ballot process" legislators gave their okay to the state's teachers union's bite off the top of room taxes collected in Clark and Washoe Counties.
The third largest tax increase in the state's history -- and that still isn't enough to fund the point where we're supposed to be...
Three sessions ago, during the 2009 Nevada Legislative session, lawmakers passed the largest tax increase ever (although we might expect this session's final actions to surpass that one). At that point, the state wasn't facing an actual "crisis" like we are this session.
The Nevada Policy Research Institute has recently written about the results of the 2003 tax increases and the fashion in which having this significant flush of cash brought about even more rampant spending, getting us to the point where we are today.
It should always be remembered that our current budget crisis is the result of expecting to get about the same amount of revenue as was obtained the last two-year period (although the weakening economy is starting to cause some of those levels to leak into an actual slight decline).
It would be difficult to find anyone who doesn't expect that the Nevada Legislature won't increase taxes again during this session. Most logical-thinkers the increases will come in the form of higher rates for existing taxes, since the state already has the system in place to get "their" money. It also has to do with the speed in which the revenue can be obtained, because the anticipated biggest problem might be a cash-flow problem as much as an overall revenue problem.
If voters are considering any ideas of holding their representatives accountable for pushing the green "Yea" buttons for higher taxes it might be worth paying as close attention to whether any types of spending reductions come along with the increased tax bill.
We should also see and factor in what other pots of money the legislators might raid to get them where they believe they want to be. During the special sessions for fixing budget problmes the state turned to taking local government funding -- something that might be expanded on during this session.
The future of our state might not be defined so much by a direction that our "leaders" encourage us to go as a default expectation that no matter how much our government is spending -- there's got to be more.
Posted by Doug Busselman at 3/21/2009 7:14 AM 
Categories: Nevada Budget
Tags: Taxes Government Spending
Categories: Nevada Budget
Tags: Taxes Government Spending
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