The Unwillingness Of Our Elected Leaders To Be Fiscally Responsible
By: Doug Busselman, Executive Vice President
The “vision” for Nevada’s future was clearly on display on Friday afternoon’s show in the Nevada Senate. The majority leader of the state Senate and several of his associates made it abundantly clear that in their view the purpose of business and the private sector is to give, give and give some more to finance their desires to spend, spend and spend some more. In spite of a Billion dollar tax increase in the waning days of the legislative session that concluded less than nine months ago, the spending authorized by these same elected “leaders” has exceeded the revenue generating capabilities of the tax structure. Their first response is that those who pay should pay some more and their second response is that we have to change the tax structure to make it possible for even greater contributions from more business sectors than already paying.
Reductions in the spending or requiring greater degrees of accountability for the amounts of spending already flowing are only on the list of “things to do” to the degree that the spending reductions can be kept to a minimum (if there is any reduction at all) and where accountability can be given enough lip service to chase more federal dollars to provide for even greater spending binges.
It galls those who champion the cause of government being the end-all-and-be-all that those intended to contribute may not have the financial wherewithal to give more than they are already giving. Like spoiled children who throw temper tantrums over not getting all the candy they want, we saw the display on the Senate floor yesterday of those who simply won’t accept that there are limits to the ability of business enterprises to pay greater amounts to support a public sector and the chosen elite who aren’t willing to go without.
The message was “never mind that your businesses might have to lay off more employees because of your inability to generate the necessary revenue to sustain itself – how can you not give more to keep teachers and other public sector employees from having cutbacks?” This same theme was made very clear in the 2009 Nevada Legislative session by the same Senate Majority Leader and his fellow believers in government being more important than those who pay the taxes.
The lectures delivered by those who “represent” us need to be responded to with a simple and clear response – government exist to serve the private sector…not the other way around! If you can’t or won’t live within the ability of taxpayers to provide, we first must work through the election process to make sure that you aren’t in charge of the decisions required to have our government being responsible. We must also work to put in place a safe guard that prohibits legislators from overspending.
Yesterday’s demonstration and for the most part the conduct of this group of legislative “leadership” further reinforced the importance of the 2010 Elections and why necessary reforms and fiscal responsibility cannot be achieved with the same powers in force. The much talked about “table” we are supposed to gather around in order to move forward is really the ballot box and the election process sending individuals to represent us who understand that government spending is even a greater responsibility than that required by the private sector to make that spending possible.
The “vision” for Nevada’s future was clearly on display on Friday afternoon’s show in the Nevada Senate. The majority leader of the state Senate and several of his associates made it abundantly clear that in their view the purpose of business and the private sector is to give, give and give some more to finance their desires to spend, spend and spend some more. In spite of a Billion dollar tax increase in the waning days of the legislative session that concluded less than nine months ago, the spending authorized by these same elected “leaders” has exceeded the revenue generating capabilities of the tax structure. Their first response is that those who pay should pay some more and their second response is that we have to change the tax structure to make it possible for even greater contributions from more business sectors than already paying.
Reductions in the spending or requiring greater degrees of accountability for the amounts of spending already flowing are only on the list of “things to do” to the degree that the spending reductions can be kept to a minimum (if there is any reduction at all) and where accountability can be given enough lip service to chase more federal dollars to provide for even greater spending binges.
It galls those who champion the cause of government being the end-all-and-be-all that those intended to contribute may not have the financial wherewithal to give more than they are already giving. Like spoiled children who throw temper tantrums over not getting all the candy they want, we saw the display on the Senate floor yesterday of those who simply won’t accept that there are limits to the ability of business enterprises to pay greater amounts to support a public sector and the chosen elite who aren’t willing to go without.
The message was “never mind that your businesses might have to lay off more employees because of your inability to generate the necessary revenue to sustain itself – how can you not give more to keep teachers and other public sector employees from having cutbacks?” This same theme was made very clear in the 2009 Nevada Legislative session by the same Senate Majority Leader and his fellow believers in government being more important than those who pay the taxes.
The lectures delivered by those who “represent” us need to be responded to with a simple and clear response – government exist to serve the private sector…not the other way around! If you can’t or won’t live within the ability of taxpayers to provide, we first must work through the election process to make sure that you aren’t in charge of the decisions required to have our government being responsible. We must also work to put in place a safe guard that prohibits legislators from overspending.
Yesterday’s demonstration and for the most part the conduct of this group of legislative “leadership” further reinforced the importance of the 2010 Elections and why necessary reforms and fiscal responsibility cannot be achieved with the same powers in force. The much talked about “table” we are supposed to gather around in order to move forward is really the ballot box and the election process sending individuals to represent us who understand that government spending is even a greater responsibility than that required by the private sector to make that spending possible.
Posted by Doug Busselman at 2/27/2010 8:17 AM 
Categories: Nevada Legislature
Tags: Nevada Legislative Special Session Nevada Budget State Spending Taxes 2010 Elections
Categories: Nevada Legislature
Tags: Nevada Legislative Special Session Nevada Budget State Spending Taxes 2010 Elections
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