Budget Watch Nevada

In case you missed Citizen Outreach’s letter to Governor Gibbons, it bears repeating.

Chuck Muth takes Jim Gibbons to task on his ATR pledge to not raise taxes on Nevadans. While some conservatives applaud the Guv for drawing a line in the sand and standing up to the big spenders in the legislature (no longer just the D’s; now pork spending is a bi-partisan sport), Chuck points out that Gibbons still went soft on allowing the voters in Washoe County to vote themselves a tax increase.

The best part of Muth’s letter, though, is a challenge to look at spending CUTS in the budget and to effect transparency in earmarks and other areas of state spending. Chuck recommends to the governor’s office:

“The establishment of a website detailing state government spending which, similar to an ongoing project at the federal level, will allow taxpayers in Nevada to “google” their government and what it’s spending their money on” and . . .

“The creation of a Nevada version of Ronald Reagan’s “Grace Commission” to identify significant spending cuts in the current budget.”

That speaks directly to what we do here at Budget Watch Nevada. In fact, if the governor were to heed Chuck’s request for such a “Grace Commission,” then your author should be the number one candidate for a seat at that table.

Will it happen? Who knows? Can you help make it happen? Absolutely. We are still a small state, and your opinion matters. Write the governor’s office and have your neighbor do the same . . . and let’s make a difference in the future of the Silver State.

As much as I want to support Governor Gibbons’ holding the line on taxes, he still is a Bush-like “conservative,” submitting and approving a spending plan that is the highest ever for Nevada, some 18% higher than that of only 2 years ago. The spending INCREASE is way higher than would be justified under a TASC-like enhancement of population growth plus inflation. The real problem here is that the Guv and the Ledge spend every last dollar that is projected to be collected through taxes. There is absolutely no fiscal restraint shown. They never even talk about cutting out wasteful programs . . . NEVER. This is a real problem that will take real leadership to address, and I don’t see it coming from Carson City any time soon.