Taxes
Be careful with this one
The Tax Foundation’s new study is not a case for tax hikes.
It's easy to imagine the glee with which Nevada's ever-higher-taxes crowd must be greeting a new study from the Washington, D.C.-based Tax Foundation, which found that Silver State residents enjoy the nation's second-lowest state and local tax burden.
What’s at stake in 2008?
The policy implications of this year’s elections could be significant.
An unpopular Republican governor, an increasingly deep economic funk, and a national outlook that nearly all prognosticators say greatly favors their party. Nevada Democrats couldn't have come up with a better storyline heading into the 2008 elections if they'd been allowed to write the script themselves.
The perks of public service
They all add up to a very high cost to taxpayers.
While public employees deserve a quality compensation package, many of them receive excessive pay and perks at taxpayer expense.
Overspending on Outsourcing
The costs pile up as taxpayers remain in the dark.
Many people think of outsourcing as a way to save on expenses by having help from outside firms that can do specialized jobs for less. When it comes to government in Nevada, however, outsourcing too often appears a way for the politically connected to pull in taxpayer dollars.
Nevada's hidden spending
Transparency should be a higher priority in the Silver State.
Subpar accounting practices in Nevada government make it difficult for taxpayers to learn how hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars are spent.
New approach needed on public pensions
Do Nevada's political leaders have the courage to act?
To reform NVPERS, our politicians would have to look beyond their next elections and selflessly put the greater good above their own retirement planning.
Governments lobbying governments
Millions of taxpayer dollars go undocumented.
State and local governments in Nevada spend millions each year lobbying other levels of the government, and taxpayers get little if anything in return.
Are delusional political beliefs really free?
Higher tourism taxes will burden all Nevadans.
While most people practice intellectual self-discipline in their day-to-day lives, they often max out emotionally once they're in the voting booth.
Was that really so hard?
Government proves it can cut spending.
Faced with a large and growing revenue shortfall, Gov. Jim Gibbons has worked successfully with state legislators to do the sensible thing and scale back the size of the state budget. Still, while the media are likely to chronicle this saga primarily as a triumph of bipartisan cooperation, the real moral of this story likely will be missed.
An alternate reality
Nevadans need to know the truth about their taxes.
It has become increasingly clear that in the minds of those who make up Nevada's ever-expanding governing class, citizens exist first and foremost to feed the machinery of the state – thus allowing it to further grow in power and influence over us all.
