One of my beliefs that has changed since I first got elected is that I don’t believe government does a good job being charitable. There’s just too much mischief that takes place when strangers get to spend strangers’ money. Davy Crockett approached it from a different angle to come to the same conclusion over […]

The Urban Institute is a “non-partisan think tank” (doesn’t everyone claim to be?) that has published a comparative study of the 50 states, looking at each state’s revenue capacity, expenditure need, and overall level of fiscal capacity. The link is to a PDF file that includes the entire 90-page report.
The study defines a state’s […]

Here’s the article, published on page 5B of Sunday’s Review Journal.
It describes a shadowy effort underway to erase Nevada’s term limits, amended into the state Constitution by two successive (and overwhelming) votes by citizens back in the 1990s.
The article says no politician will talk about the effort, fearing voters would not react well to seeing […]

I got back from vacation to find Nevada’s voice of “progressives” had penned an article in a Reno weekly advocating improved quality of life through higher taxes on Nevadans. You can read it here.
He starts out swinging wildly, and missing:
Sales/gaming tax revenue that fuels the budget is cyclical and leads to dramatic swings, from $300 […]

The AFL-CIO, a main player in defeating my re-election this fall, has published its rating of federal legislators, five of whom represent Nevada. The AFL-CIO claims to make their ratings on behalf of “working families.”
For much of US history, the AFL-CIO represented many such “working families,” all of whom shared a deep and common bond: […]

From the Associated Press today:
“Our financial situation is getting worse every single day,” said Councilwoman Stephanie Gomes. “No city or private person wants to declare bankruptcy, but if you’re facing insolvency, you have no choice but to seek protection.”
Like many California cities, Vallejo promised its employees salaries, benefits and retirement packages that it can’t afford […]

Today, Nevada workers got an official indicator of how hard they’ve been hit by our economic downturn. Nevada’s hidden income tax, named the “Modified Business Tax”, came up short of projections by $13-million over the three months ending September 30.
This tax is .62 of one percent of wages paid. When you divide the $13-million shortfall […]