Patrick R. Gibbons
A tale of two graphs
It was the best of graphs, it was the worst of graphs. Assembly Speaker Barbara Buckley has graciously sent NPRI the data set she used to generate a graph showing Nevada's general fund revenue per resident for FY 2009 will be below the 1996 level.
Ranking Nevada's Education
According to a recent study by the Tax Foundation, Nevada's resident tax burden ranks 49th in the country. According to Assembly Speaker Barbara Buckley, that low tax burden correlates to low government funding and, as a result, Nevada ranks 44th in education funding per student.
Will Buckley support the gold standard?
In attempting recently to dissect Barbara Buckley's general fund revenue per capita graph, we were only able to ascertain that she adjusted for inflation back to 1996. When trying to "reverse engineer" her graph (we took her 1996 per-capita amount and adjust it to 2008 dollar values to create a starting-point comparison between her graph and ours), it appears as though she is using the population estimates for the beginning of the fiscal year for her general fund per capita calculation.
Obama's misleading ads
Barack Obama's political ads have been relentless here in Nevada. Rarely does a day go by when we do not see or hear his claim that "for the first time in American history" John McCain "wants to tax your health care benefits." Well, this claim is stretching the truth a bit.
Greenspun's socialism
Brian Greenspun's Sunday opinion column in the Las Vegas Sun illustrated good intentions, but ultimately dangerous and misguided thinking. In calling for government to take the reins of Wall-Street investing – supposedly in the interest of the taxpayer – Greenspun calls for a new kind of socialism for America's future economy.
The anatomy of a crisis
Nevada's economy faces more trouble than does that of any other state in the country. Rising energy costs, a severe stock market slump and a total collapse of the housing market have led to lower profits, less disposable income for tourists to spend and lower tax revenue.
Bailout up, market down
After the first attempt at a bailout failed on September 29, the Dow Industrial Average dropped about 780 points. Newspapers, politicians and pundits across the country took it as a sign that we needed the bailout. Voting "no" had caused the "largest" single-day fall in U.S. history, we were told.
Why is Nevada short on cash?
After Nevada increased taxes in 2003 (new revenues were collected for FY 2004) Nevada's government rode atop a booming revenue source that was riding atop a booming economy. As a result, general fund revenue collections increased 28 percent, and overall government spending increased 17.6 percent.
A modest proposal
Outsourcing education?
Throughout the year several Nevadans, including Assembly Speaker Barbara Buckley (D-Las Vegas), former governor Bob Miller, casino mogul Steve Wynn and higher-ed chancellor Jim Rogers have claimed that budget cuts to education in would be "devastating" for the children. These advocates of "Big Education" would like to see Nevada increase spending based on the notion that we "underfund" education relative to other states.
No need for new taxes
During her town-hall forum Monday, Assembly Speaker Barbara Buckley made a nice presentation replete with facts. Facts are exactly what the tax-hike advocates should provide. They rarely give us any.
