Government Of The Government – By The Government – For The Government
By: Doug Busselman, Executive Vice President
Having experience in Carson City since 1989, I have noticed more than once that each legislative session takes on a personality of their own. We are currently one-fifth of the way through the 2011 Nevada Legislature and it would seem that we’re seeing an overall theme develop…Government of – by – and for Government.
First, this session has been over-whelming focused on the budget which Governor Sandoval didn’t infuse with a tax increase. Since the release of that budget, the purpose of legislative review has been to serve as an expose on how the earth cannot continue to turn without state government increasing spending. Making matters worse (possibly even worse than the most dire, imaginable possibility…) the proposed budget suggests the lack of state financial resources should be responded to by reducing spending amounts.
In addition to the horror of reductions in spending for education (supposedly “gutting” the education system at all levels) the proposals for pay cuts of state-financed public employees and changes in their benefit packages have drawn heavy political fire. Offered a multitude of opportunities to vent their ire, recipients of government dollars have responded with various messages that balancing the state’s budget is being done on their backs. We’ve even heard more than one twist that government reductions are to be considered as “tax increases” for those not getting as much from the public trough as they apparently are entitled to obtain.
Amidst the budget-bashing of the Governor’s proposal, there has also been a conveyor of legislative activity processing a series of bills aimed at putting some of Nevada’s unemployed back to work. These bills involve a variety of policy mechanisms which range from proposals to stack the bidding process for public works projects in favor of Nevada companies to redirecting revenue sources into bonds for public construction projects.
The common premise for these elements is that government is essential (possibly the only alternative) for determining the state’s economic present and future. This philosophy has somehow become the basis for government at all levels, relegating the private sector to those obligated to participate in the “partnership” by paying higher taxes or enduring the consequences of economic devastation from hyper-spending by Washington, D.C. authorities.
Noisy push-back to the idea of government living within the means of present tax burdens have been equated with the fight for freedom from government uprisings in the Middle-East. Perhaps a more accurate analogy for the situation we’re seeing would be the experience of the Greeks and the furor over the riots of recipients of government payouts who weren’t willing to get by with less.
So far there hasn’t been a proposal offered by those who see tax increases as the only potential for resolving their intention to spend more. Lacking assurance of votes necessary to pass a tax bill it seems that the political stage must be set, manipulated further to establish a crisis condition best resolved by a legislator or two pressured into “doing the right thing” and pressing the green button.
Having experience in Carson City since 1989, I have noticed more than once that each legislative session takes on a personality of their own. We are currently one-fifth of the way through the 2011 Nevada Legislature and it would seem that we’re seeing an overall theme develop…Government of – by – and for Government.
First, this session has been over-whelming focused on the budget which Governor Sandoval didn’t infuse with a tax increase. Since the release of that budget, the purpose of legislative review has been to serve as an expose on how the earth cannot continue to turn without state government increasing spending. Making matters worse (possibly even worse than the most dire, imaginable possibility…) the proposed budget suggests the lack of state financial resources should be responded to by reducing spending amounts.
In addition to the horror of reductions in spending for education (supposedly “gutting” the education system at all levels) the proposals for pay cuts of state-financed public employees and changes in their benefit packages have drawn heavy political fire. Offered a multitude of opportunities to vent their ire, recipients of government dollars have responded with various messages that balancing the state’s budget is being done on their backs. We’ve even heard more than one twist that government reductions are to be considered as “tax increases” for those not getting as much from the public trough as they apparently are entitled to obtain.
Amidst the budget-bashing of the Governor’s proposal, there has also been a conveyor of legislative activity processing a series of bills aimed at putting some of Nevada’s unemployed back to work. These bills involve a variety of policy mechanisms which range from proposals to stack the bidding process for public works projects in favor of Nevada companies to redirecting revenue sources into bonds for public construction projects.
The common premise for these elements is that government is essential (possibly the only alternative) for determining the state’s economic present and future. This philosophy has somehow become the basis for government at all levels, relegating the private sector to those obligated to participate in the “partnership” by paying higher taxes or enduring the consequences of economic devastation from hyper-spending by Washington, D.C. authorities.
Noisy push-back to the idea of government living within the means of present tax burdens have been equated with the fight for freedom from government uprisings in the Middle-East. Perhaps a more accurate analogy for the situation we’re seeing would be the experience of the Greeks and the furor over the riots of recipients of government payouts who weren’t willing to get by with less.
So far there hasn’t been a proposal offered by those who see tax increases as the only potential for resolving their intention to spend more. Lacking assurance of votes necessary to pass a tax bill it seems that the political stage must be set, manipulated further to establish a crisis condition best resolved by a legislator or two pressured into “doing the right thing” and pressing the green button.
Posted by Doug Busselman at 3/6/2011 8:11 PM 
Categories: 2011 Nevada Legislature
Tags: Nevada Budget and Taxes
Categories: 2011 Nevada Legislature
Tags: Nevada Budget and Taxes
Does anyone in the legislature have a real job? Where they have to produce something of value and perhaps pay employees?
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Actually, Jule very few Legislators have any experience in meeting payroll or operating a business enterprise. That is one of the problems. They don't understand what it takes to make a business operate -- they believe they can tax business at higher and higher rates without consequences. All they care about is getting the money they need for more government spending
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