When You Don’t Have Enough Money To Spend More
By: Doug Busselman, Executive Vice President
Sunday mornings, following a state legislative session give us the chance to read the recaps of what happened (and from the look of things -- what champions of spending wish what would have happened). The taxes that got away seems to be the major theme that we’re supposed to be concentrating on as media types join with their allies in the legislature who want to convince us that Nevada’s problem could be solved if we only had the means to get more taxes.
This news account from the Sunday, June 7th Reno Gazette Journal fits the mold of reporting on the journey to begin with the interim tax study aimed at finding the magical formula for a broad-based tax structure.
It is hard to dismiss the anti-business attitude of those who have been elected to represent us. This news article refers to the accomplishment of passage of legislation establishing the new one-stop business portal in the Secretary of State’s office. We read here that the benefit for such a great idea is to “capture more tax scofflaws”. Funny, that wasn’t one of the positive advantages mentioned during the debate for whether the bill should become law.
Even though it’s not on any interim study agenda, perhaps the most important project to be worked on during the time-frame between now and the start of the 2011 Legislative session should involve the other side of the ledger. Since we can’t expect legislators to figure out the importance of responsible spending, perhaps the solution lies in using the ballot box. This could be a two-pronged effort with the first involving a voter-approved system for keeping state spending within constrained limits. Although the Colorado model may need some fine-tuning the concept of preventing run-away legislative spending is worth serious considerations. The second phase of bringing about responsible spending comes in the form of electing candidates who don’t see your money as their untapped resource to create larger state budgets.
In light of how strongly we can expect tax champions to press their agenda, we must counter with an even stronger push to bring spending into line.
Sunday mornings, following a state legislative session give us the chance to read the recaps of what happened (and from the look of things -- what champions of spending wish what would have happened). The taxes that got away seems to be the major theme that we’re supposed to be concentrating on as media types join with their allies in the legislature who want to convince us that Nevada’s problem could be solved if we only had the means to get more taxes.
This news account from the Sunday, June 7th Reno Gazette Journal fits the mold of reporting on the journey to begin with the interim tax study aimed at finding the magical formula for a broad-based tax structure.
It is hard to dismiss the anti-business attitude of those who have been elected to represent us. This news article refers to the accomplishment of passage of legislation establishing the new one-stop business portal in the Secretary of State’s office. We read here that the benefit for such a great idea is to “capture more tax scofflaws”. Funny, that wasn’t one of the positive advantages mentioned during the debate for whether the bill should become law.
Even though it’s not on any interim study agenda, perhaps the most important project to be worked on during the time-frame between now and the start of the 2011 Legislative session should involve the other side of the ledger. Since we can’t expect legislators to figure out the importance of responsible spending, perhaps the solution lies in using the ballot box. This could be a two-pronged effort with the first involving a voter-approved system for keeping state spending within constrained limits. Although the Colorado model may need some fine-tuning the concept of preventing run-away legislative spending is worth serious considerations. The second phase of bringing about responsible spending comes in the form of electing candidates who don’t see your money as their untapped resource to create larger state budgets.
In light of how strongly we can expect tax champions to press their agenda, we must counter with an even stronger push to bring spending into line.
Posted by Doug Busselman at 6/7/2009 4:38 AM 
Categories: 2010 Elections
Tags: Nevada Taxes Government Spending
Categories: 2010 Elections
Tags: Nevada Taxes Government Spending
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