Fiscal
Hammer therapy
The room tax hike will cause nothing but headaches
"Wow! Did you see these numbers? Tourist visitation to Southern Nevada over the last year is down huge amounts, and the collapse is accelerating! The entire state economy is really at risk!" "Yes, it's awful. Luckily I'm in the Nevada Legislature, and we lawmakers have taken bold and decisive action." "What did you do?"
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.
Riding the downward spiral
Buckley’s foreclosure plan would keep housing market in the toilet
Assembly Speaker Barbara Buckley has introduced a bill that would supposedly stabilize Nevada's housing market and assist homeowners who are in danger of foreclosure.
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.
Lemmings in suits
The political class is running us over a cliff
Let's recall how Nevada got into this economic mess, OK? It was the loving gift of your federal government.
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.
