Taxes
Handicapping the debate
Manufacturing a budget crisis
Gov. Jim Gibbons either surrounded himself with people giving him bad advice or he never intended to seriously fight tax increases—or both. If your goal is to fight tax increases, you don't frame the debate by starting with highly bloated budget estimates while calling insufficient revenues to meet those estimates a "crisis."
Speaker scrutinizing subsidies
Buckley takes aim at tax abatements and incentives
Assembly Speaker Barbara Buckley and her colleagues in the Nevada Legislature recently began to consider curtailing or eliminating targeted tax abatements and other incentives within the state as a way of generating additional tax revenue.
Saving kids ... AND money
Nevada has much to gain from Corporate Tuition Tax Credits
As the Nevada Legislature convenes in Carson City to discuss how to cover the imaginary budget shortfall—imaginary, in that it's a shortfall between the money projected to come in and the 17 percent increase in spending that politicians want—the fate of taxpayers and businesses hangs in the balance.
Old Vegas lives
“Free” tax money is available, but integrity is hard to find
Board members of the Las Vegas Redevelopment Agency (LVRDA) and those who are dependent on them for taxpayer subsidies apparently have little shame. In response to recent public opposition to the LVRDA and its use of tax dollars to build lavish public facilities and subsidize big developers, board members of the LVRDA have jettisoned adherence to the state's ethics laws.
The real danger
We’re not getting our money’s worth from NSHE
Nevada System of Higher Education Chancellor Jim Rogers took aim at Gov. Gibbons this weekend for his position against raising taxes. Rogers, like many others, considers "no new taxes" a dangerous ideology. However, he—and they—are looking at the wrong issue.
Tax Dollar Performance in Nevada
A Quantitative Analysis of the Effectiveness of Government Spending in the Silver State
Quantitative analyses suggest that tax dollars are being spent quite ineffectively in the Silver State.
Pros and cons
Hold debates on the merits, not the potential for tax increases
Few debates polarize like the one over legalizing prostitution. Opponents, like the Coalition Against Trafficking in Women and Doctors for Life, International, say prostitution exploits women, is the equivalent of sexual slavery and constitutes a fundamental violation of human rights. Some, however, see it as a matter of freedom.
NPRI's Transparency Project on the LVCVA: Feb. 16, 2009 update
The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority is attempting to redefine its legal identity and that of its top official in the wake of the Nevada Policy Research Institute's disclosures of improper spending, ethics violations and a longstanding breach of contract by the authority's advertising agency.
It’s Reno’s redevelopment model that needs renovation
Agency preys on local and state coffers
The Reno City Council will meet on Feb. 11 to vote on whether to approve the use of sales tax anticipated revenue (STAR) bonds to subsidize development within the city's redevelopment zone. This measure deserves some intense scrutiny.
NPRI's Transparency Project on the LVCVA: Feb. 4, 2009 update
The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority's 14-member board of directors will face a crucial decision at its next meeting on Feb. 13: Whether to extend R&R Partners' $87 million-a-year advertising contract for another five years.
