Taxing Times For Nevada
By: Doug Busselman, Executive Vice President
Earlier this session a proposal to increase the tax on diesel fuels was rejected. That proposal, for a 12-cents per-gallon tax, came as a last-minute switch to a proposed piece of legislation that was drafted as a bill to implement a distance-traveled tax on large trucks.
Again, preferring to take something other than a straight-forward approach, the advocates for digging into the pockets of those who purchase diesel fuel, used a last-minute, back-door scheme. As reported here by Reno Gazette-Journal reporter Anjeanette Damon, the amendment to an Assembly bill that was introduced for taxing ethanol and other special fuels seeks to apply a 7-cent per-gallon tax on diesel fuel.
In the effort to insure that there will be an automatic increase for increasing the number of construction cones, the magic of indexing the diesel fuels is also part of the proposal with voters given the chance to be asked if that is how they’d like things to operate. Indexing allows for the tax amount to increase without having to go through the troublesome approval mechanisms. If costs go up for road construction – so do the taxes (how sweet can that be if you’re in the business of getting paid for road construction?).
Taking whatever they can get from whoever they can get it from will be the mode for where things will be going from here. The last-minute world of the Nevada Legislature is all about these kinds of “public policy”. We’re going to see lots more of such “revenue enhancing” between now and when things finally wrap up in Carson City.
Although the anticipated revenue from this tax assault on purchasers of diesel fuel is expected to be $24.5 million we can’t help but wonder whether alternative options for purchasing the higher-costing fuels might actually yield something other than what is expected. It would be well-worth tracking to determine and account for all the consequences these legislative versions of Pearl Harbor achieve.
Earlier this session a proposal to increase the tax on diesel fuels was rejected. That proposal, for a 12-cents per-gallon tax, came as a last-minute switch to a proposed piece of legislation that was drafted as a bill to implement a distance-traveled tax on large trucks.
Again, preferring to take something other than a straight-forward approach, the advocates for digging into the pockets of those who purchase diesel fuel, used a last-minute, back-door scheme. As reported here by Reno Gazette-Journal reporter Anjeanette Damon, the amendment to an Assembly bill that was introduced for taxing ethanol and other special fuels seeks to apply a 7-cent per-gallon tax on diesel fuel.
In the effort to insure that there will be an automatic increase for increasing the number of construction cones, the magic of indexing the diesel fuels is also part of the proposal with voters given the chance to be asked if that is how they’d like things to operate. Indexing allows for the tax amount to increase without having to go through the troublesome approval mechanisms. If costs go up for road construction – so do the taxes (how sweet can that be if you’re in the business of getting paid for road construction?).
Taking whatever they can get from whoever they can get it from will be the mode for where things will be going from here. The last-minute world of the Nevada Legislature is all about these kinds of “public policy”. We’re going to see lots more of such “revenue enhancing” between now and when things finally wrap up in Carson City.
Although the anticipated revenue from this tax assault on purchasers of diesel fuel is expected to be $24.5 million we can’t help but wonder whether alternative options for purchasing the higher-costing fuels might actually yield something other than what is expected. It would be well-worth tracking to determine and account for all the consequences these legislative versions of Pearl Harbor achieve.
Posted by Doug Busselman at 5/16/2009 4:51 AM 
Categories: Nevada Legislature
Tags: Nevada Spending Nevada Diesel Fuel Taxes
Categories: Nevada Legislature
Tags: Nevada Spending Nevada Diesel Fuel Taxes
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