Fiscal
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.
Heads in the sand
CCSD is once again ignoring a good idea.
Can the Clark County School District cut $63 million from its budget without touching classroom programs? Even if possible, would CCSD actually do it? It doesn't appear the district would even consider it.
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.
The Bubble Factory
Nevada faces a head-wind of bad monetary policy from Washington, D.C.
There's a simple reason why banks have been so reluctant to loan to other banks. More than anyone, bankers know what banks do. Fractional-reserve banking, after all, is the business of legally lending out money one doesn't have, hoping all the while that large numbers of your depositors never all show up at the same time, demanding their money.
Playing with fire
Getting burned by the firefighter union
Residents of Clark County who want to invest in the future of their children should take away their schoolbooks and buy them a box of matches. Why? Because in Clark County, knowledge of fire and fire suppression is apparently of more value than is knowledge in specialized academic fields such as law.
Mutually assured donations
Back-scratching abounds in Clark County education.
Why is the Clark County School District issuing checks for millions of dollars to Southern Nevada's powerful teacher union? According to purchase and change orders reviewed by the Nevada Policy Research Institute, within the last two years a total of $4.9 million has been approved by CCSD trustees for payment directly to the Clark County Education Association, or to a foundation controlled by the union.
Jobs for the sake of jobs
Failing businesses must be allowed to fail.
Ropchai Premsrirut, former assistant professor of economics at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, explained recently in the Las Vegas Sun how he believes he is doing his part to prevent unemployment – namely, by not quickly ending the hemorrhaging of a money-losing restaurant he recently took over.
