Taxes
Plenty of waste to swing at
Government-subsidized golf underscores lack of fiscal discipline
Speaker Buckley claimed last week that the governor's proposal to re-direct $79 million from Clark and Washoe County governments to the state general fund could adversely impact the operations of county government in those locales. Apparently, one of the government operations she is trying to protect is government-subsidized golf.
Rolling the Dice on the Taxpayers’ Dime
Nevada's redevelopment agencies spend hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars subsidizing private developers, which increases the tax burden on citizens and fosters corruption. There is a better way to encourage redevelopment.
Welcome to the long run
Keynesian economics have been the downfall of American policymaking.
The American shift to Keynesianism began in the 1930s, and lawmakers based much of the New Deal on it. Keynesian economists advocate government manipulation of the market through monetary policy in order to "ensure" economic stability and full employment. Understanding the Keynesian mindset is essential to understanding current American policymaking.
NPRI's Recommendations for Cost-Cutting and Reform
In the face of today's fiscal challenges, Nevada policymakers must recognize the need to enact sweeping reforms that transform how state government conducts its business.
Government: A different animal
The ‘economies of scale' model doesn't apply.
A recent op-ed by Dr. Elliott Parker, an economist at the University of Nevada, Reno, no doubt had Nevada's big government spenders salivating. According to Dr. Parker, Nevada's revenue problems result from low taxes, not from high spending levels. His argument relies on the fact that Nevada has a relatively small bureaucracy, which he claims ranks as the smallest in the country in terms of percentage of the state's population.
Why Nevada's cost of government is high
Delineating the tax burden
While public discourse in Nevada has recently focused on whether the state should increase taxes, little attention has been paid to the high cost that Nevadans are already paying to finance state and local governments. Although the state's general fund revenues have captured the attention of the media in recent weeks due to the "imaginary shortfall," Nevadans are also burdened by many other forms of state and local taxes.
Calls for tax hikes rely on faulty data
Governments in Nevada still well funded
Big-government advocates are calling for massive tax hikes with increasing regularity in Nevada. These advocates claim that state government is grossly underfunded and, as a result, the legislature should force Nevadans to shoulder a heavier tax burden. However, such assertions rely on a thorough misunderstanding or misrepresentation of the facts.
Nevada's budget mysteries
Legislators have some important questions to answer.
The more one examines Nevada's budget situation, and listens to the comments coming from policymakers and pundits, the more conflicting information one receives. One newspaper has claimed that general fund revenue is down to $5.6 billion for this biennium, while another claims that number is actually the projection for the next biennium. Some newspapers report a $1.2 billion shortfall, others a $1.5 billion shortfall, and we have even heard claims of $2.5 billion to $4.5 billion shortfalls.
Real solutions for higher education
Efficiency and innovation are what Nevada needs.
Jim Rogers – chancellor of the Nevada System of Higher Education – has been hitting the keyboard a lot lately, typing up legions of memos on Nevada's "broken" revenue structure, the need for new taxes, requests to borrow billions, and the necessity of increasing funding to education. Rogers has become bold enough to not just demand increased gaming and mining taxes but to demand an income tax as well.
Legislature addresses imaginary ‘shortfall'
Band-aids are applied to prop up high spending
As the debate over whether to increase taxes or scale back government spending rages on in Nevada, state lawmakers met this week to explore options for averting a supposed "shortfall" in the current biennial budget. All the while, legislators and media pundits decry the revisions being made in the budget and proclaim that tax rates must increase if the state is to provide an adequate level of services.
