In February, 2011 our state legislature will meet to deal with the projected budget shortfall.  Our State Constitution requires the Legislature to fund education and balance our revenues and expenses.  To raise revenues, an option would be to increase taxes or create new taxes.  Some options include raising taxes on Nevada citizens or tourists coming to Nevada.  Fairness is the issue, but deep down Nevada and its citizens know that they need to expand our economic situation and tax it to survive.  People are coming up with new ideas but we do not need to focus directly on those issues.

Governor Jim Gibbons, former North Las Vegas Mayor Mike Montandon and former Nevada Attorney General Brian Sandoval have either signed a “no new tax” pledge or signaled that they would veto any tax proposals from the people/Legislature.  This is wrong.  There are new industries that will move to or be created in Nevada.  For a state executive to stop money from staying in our state is major red light for his/her constituents.  Any voter who votes for a candidate who will not create taxes for the mining, casino, energy, corporate or any industry is making a mistake.

Many people ask when the state of education is going to get better.  Well, how is education funded?  The educational system is funded through state funds and if the state is going to balance the budget and fund education first, there has to be the funds to do so.  We cannot stare down the barrel of a budget deficit every other year!  If we bring in different markets and tax current industries, we can have the money for a well funded educational system that would be in the top 10 in the nation.

“Let public schools then be established in every county of the United States, at least as many as are necessary for the present population, and let those schools be supported by a general tax.” –Robert Coram, American Author(1761-1796)

Tags: Nevada, No new tax pledge

The views and opinions expressed in the media, articles or comments on this site are those of the speakers or authors and do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions held by CSN Capitol Club. This entry was posted on Tuesday, May 11th, 2010 at 10:59 am and is filed under Nevada, Tax Policy. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.