Where’s the Pea?
December 26th, 2007Nevada hides taxes like no other.
Although I was named one of the American Legislative Exchange Council’s “Legislators of the Year” this summer, I didn’t realized they’d called us out until I read this weekend’s editorial in the Review Journal.
If the issue is truly a faulty tax structure, why aren’t Mr. Rogers, Mr. Lanni, Assembly Speaker Barbara Buckley, Senate Minority Leader Dina Titus and all of Nevada’s rich public-employee unions proposing a revenue-neutral overhaul? Why aren’t they proposing reductions in the state’s gaming, sales and property tax rates to accompany the creation of a “broad-based” business tax? This whole problem is about “revenue predictability,” isn’t it?
Nevada governments have plenty of money. An American Legislative Exchange Council report released this month, titled “Rich States/Poor States,” found Nevada’s tax burden beyond income, property and sales taxes was the highest of the 50 states. The gaming tax more than makes up for the state’s lack of personal and corporate income taxes.
Nevada doesn’t need new or higher taxes.
So I hunted down the report the Review Journal referenced. Here’s the whole enchilada for my fellow masochists; here’s just the Nevada summary page from the report for my more sensible readers.
The thing that triggered my interest was the RJ reporting that the report has confirmed something I have been publicly speculating about for longer than I’ve served in the Legislature: that Nevada does America’s best job of hiding taxes from our residents.
It’s important because Nevada also does the nation’s best job of shifting our tax burden away from we residents and putting it onto our very reliable and steady flow of visitors. In that respect, we are the envy of all other states. They crank taxes on visitors (room tax, car rental tax, sales tax, parking tickets) up far higher than we do, yet we still shift much more of our tax burden onto our visitors than they do. That’s because we have more of them, and they want to come here really, really bad.
I think many Nevada residents forget how much taxes we extract from visitors, relax when they see how we don’t have an income tax, then panic when government unions and the politicians who cater to them claim they need more money. These panicked taxpayers then forget to stop and ask the key question: how do Nevada’s government spending habits compare to the rest of the nation?
- We have the highest paid government employees in America
- Our public schools are funded 37th, not last.
- Our teachers are paid 15th to 20th highest of 51 states, not last.
December 27th, 2007 at 12:50 am
We need more taxes.
When times are good……we need more taxes to support the growth.
When times are bad………we need more taxes to make up for the revenue shortfall.
When times are normal…we need more taxes because the government is never fully funded.
December 27th, 2007 at 6:18 pm
I don’t think there is any government in history that voluntarily downsized.
December 28th, 2007 at 11:29 pm
It is scarey that so many “officials” don’t understand how most of our government funds come from people who do not live here. The way to fight those who want to create a “broad-based tax” is to constantly remind voters that such a change means THEY are paying more. The tourists pay us very well to show them a good time, and that’s a good thing.
December 29th, 2007 at 8:07 am
The American Legislative Exchange Council Private Enerprise Board is comprised of:
Chairman
Jerry Watson, American Bail Coalition (bail bondmen)
First Vice Chairman
Scott Fisher, Altria Corporate Services, Inc. (philip morris and the tabacco people)
Treasurer
Alan B. Smith, Ohio Casualty Group (insurance)
Immediate Past Chairman
Kurt L. Malmgren, PhRMA (big pharmacy lobbying group)
Chairman Emeritus
Allan E. Auger, Coors Brewing Company
….and when it comes to the group’s “Model Legislation”, why it was written by Randy Tompson, R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company.
Quite the lobbying group of businessmen to ‘honor’ you, Bob. Then again, they ‘honored’ Nevada’s own Senator Dennis Nolan along with you, and we know what your side kick Muth thinks of him….so, if you are known by the company you’re honored with?…
December 29th, 2007 at 9:39 am
Wow, somebody must have peed in Mark D’s cornflakes this morning.
P.S. Mark, tobacco is spelled with an o not an a.
You must be a graduate (or teacher) from the Clark County school system.
Let’s see, as a resident, I pay the highest license plate fees in the US. (This is something Bob proposed to cut in half if elected governor.) It is also a major reason that people license their cars out of state.
I pay property taxes, sales taxes, and as a business I’m now required to pay taxes on any employees I hire. We don’t need anymore taxes to feed the government beast. Thanks to Governor Guinn, we are sliding down the list of low tax states. Bob achieved his hero status from bucking the tax and spend proponents in the legislature. Does anyone really believe the cooked figures put out by the government whiners??
December 31st, 2007 at 6:24 am
There is nothing wrong with our Nevada “tax structure”! No matter how you structure the tax system, there will NEVER be enough money to satisfy the whining, sniveling bureaucrats who think they can solve every nitpicking problem in the state by raising taxes.
January 5th, 2008 at 7:05 am
Al,
The “bureaucrats” don’t legislate, they just act on what the lawfully elected body tells them to do. (civics 101)
The elected body re-distributes money in the economy based on demand from “whining [and] sniveling” constituents (be they voters or donors).
January 6th, 2008 at 11:52 am
Mark,
Neither Jim Rogers nor school administrators are elected legislators. They’re “bureaucrats” and and they whine and snivel trying to force the “elected body” to raise taxes.
Civics 101 is very simple and straight forward. It doesn’t, unfortunately, reflect reality.
February 23rd, 2008 at 8:02 am
[…] Attentive readers of the Beers Blog learned a couple of weeks ago that my opponent Dina Titus was right: sometimes Nevada ends up at the top of bad lists. Like this one - some research that ranked Nevada highest in hidden taxation. […]