Budget Watch Nevada

On Friday it was reported that Harry Reid got some sound-bite press coverage while grandstanding about three power plants scheduled to be built in Nevada. My initial reaction was, “why would Uncle Harry be against more power supply in our state?”

But we should never underestimate the thrill of power among US Senators, and their limitless sense of self-importance. In Reid’s case, he’s a very powerful idiot.

The article stated, “U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said Thursday he’ll do ‘everything I can’ to stop construction of three major coal-fired power plants in his home state of Nevada and will push for more alternative energy development.

‘I just can’t do that. I’m going to do everything I can to stop it,’ he said. ‘All these power moguls want to do is to steal our air and water,’ Reid said, adding that the power plants might be good for economic development in rural areas ‘but this isn’t good for Nevada. I can’t comprehend how much coal would be used.’”

Well, I can’t comprehend how Hapless Harry can be so ignorant about market economics. A normal person would think that $5 billion in construction/development projects would be good for Nevada’s economy, as would an expanded, more reliable source of electricity. And when he talks about “these power moguls,” puh-lease! What a hypocrite! Reid has built a career on being a power mogul, capitalizing on being an influence peddler, rewarding his allies, and punishing his political foes.

Then we read that “State consumer advocate Eric Witkoski called Reid’s statement ‘kind of refreshing’ and said he shared Reid’s concerns. Coal-fired plants use a lot of water, a precious commodity in the desert, and appear to contribute to global warming, Witkoski said.”

“Witkoski fears Congress will either force coal-burning industries to pay a tax or buy credits from other companies through so-called ‘cap-and-trade’ markets that cap total carbon dioxide pollution. That would increase the cost of power from the Ely plant.”

Why is a so-called “state consumer advocate” offering support for Reid’s rant? Shouldn’t he be supporting anything that helps the consumer, such as lower, stable costs for energy, along with jobs and investment in our state? Hmm.

Meanwhile, the feds are steadily marching towards a central-planning scheme of “cap-and-trade” credits for power plants. In a misguided effort to suck up to the Chicken Littles of the so-called “global warming” scare, Congress will race to show that it is concerned. They are obviously concerned more about public perception than they are about our economic development and quality of life.

In an insightful article by Tom Borelli in Townhall.com, Dr. Borelli explores the myth of cap-and-trade effectiveness. He also makes a great point about large corporations getting in bed with environmental advocates for political activism, often to the detriment of the corporation and its stockholders. Good stuff.

Bottom line: enjoy your nice air conditioning while it lasts. It won’t be long before it’s being rationed in Soviet-style fashion. Of course Harry “Karl Marx” Reid won’t be subject to any power restrictions. He needs to be comfortable and protected so he can keep on doing what’s best for us and to provide for the common good.

You may remember a few years back that during the “Axe the Tax” ballot initiative signature gatherers were harassed by the police and employees of “public” places like the post office and UNLV. The pinheads at UNLV, 85% of whose salaries are paid by taxpayers, had the audacity to say that there was a specified, limited “free speech zone” on campus. Huh? That is unbelievable! (Sidebar: the “free speech zone” was NOT IN ANY CLASSROOM.) One of the brave signature gatherers, a sweet lady up in the Reno area, was actually arrested for peaceably gathering signatures in plain celebration of her First Amendment right to “petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”

This sort of thing happens all the time. This past week in New Hampshire, a couple sweet ladies were arrested for . . . holding up signs at the IRS building. You can see the story on a short and poignant YouTube video here.

The funniest – and saddest — part of the video was when a cop told the cameraman to stop filming in the (IRS office) corridors. When the cameraman incredulously asked, “that means there’s no freedom of the press inside this building?,” the cop shouted back, “not inside this building.”

With all the thugs, murderers, burglars, and frauds out there, aren’t you glad that your “peace officers” and judicial system are spending time and money incarcerating honest citizens who are quietly protesting the heavy hand of government?

People who support agents of government, and those who do nothing but sit idly by while watching them wrest more power from the people, are complicit in this authoritarian police state metastasizing before us. The government wants and demands blind obedience from its citizens, whether you are law-abiding or not! They use fear as their only motivator. And they use it indiscriminately.

Forward this posting to your friends. It should get them fired up!

The property tax bill post card mailer has two parts. The lower portion, which we’ve been examining in the previous two posts, itemizes the distribution of the tax assessment. The upper portion is a bit less clear. It gives you an “Assessed Valuation” for the year, broken up into “Land” and “Building & Improvements.” Since that number likely doesn’t look anything like the actual market value of your house, it may be confusing. But since government-speak legislators wrote the tax laws, it shouldn’t be surprising that it is unclear.

In the upper right corner of the tax bill, it reads, “Tax Cap %: 3%.” No doubt the readers of this political blog know what that means, but for most of the people who are new to town and those who don’t closely follow the news, they may have no idea that it means the INCREASE in the tax from 06/07 to 07/08 was limited by statute to 3%. But since bureaucrats design these forms, they don’t really think (or care) about the common recipient of this document.

Another question that comes to mind when looking at this document is, “If the value of my house actually DECREASED from 2006 to 2007, then why is my property tax HIGHER than it was last year?” Good question. Call your assemblyman and see if he can give you a straight answer.

Now here’s the really sneaky part that these deceitful drones try to slide past us. In the “Summary” section of the bill, they give you three figures. The first is “Taxes as Assessed,” followed by “Less Cap Reduction,” to arrive at “Net Taxes.” They think they’re so tricky!

Instead of just saying “Your taxes went up from X to Y,” they say, in effect, “Your taxes would have been Z, but you only have to pay Y after the REDUCTION.” What a joke! There’s no reduction, it’s an accounting adjustment to comply with law. What a bunch of deceitful, condescending pencil-pushers. I find it disgusting, disingenuous, and shameful. The county Treasurer’s office should be ashamed, and taxpayers should be outraged!

We’ve been itemizing the wonderful services paid through your property tax bill. We’ve already covered education and police/fire “services,” so what’s next?

My particular tax bill reads, “Medical Asst To Indigent Persons” for $128.20. Lovely. So we pay for the medical care of bums, vagrants, druggies, drunks, and other ne’re-do-wells lacking the self discipline to care for themselves and pay their bills. Unfortunately, the county hospital (UMC) is required BY LAW to provide medical care to anyone, regardless of his ability to pay. If medical care is a product or service, why is it any different than food or transportation or a TV or a cell phone or massage therapy, for which people should pay their own way?

The next item is “LV/Clark County Library” for $95.25. And a several lines below on the document is $15.77 more for “LV/Clark County Library Debt.” That’s a total of $111.02 for libraries. I may only enter a library once or twice a year. I’d rather pay $5 or $10 or $20 entry fee to use the library than force every single citizen of Clark County a hundred dollars a year for something many of them will never use. And you thought it was cool to be able to check out a book or video for “free.”

The next items are “Clark County Capital” and “Clark County Debt.” Cost: $93.46. Why they don’t include these in the other Clark County distributions, we don’t know. Government accounting, I suppose.

The next item is “Clark County Family Court” for $24.61. Finally, an expense that I feel is somewhat legitimate, since courts are needed to protect our rights (one of the VERY FEW legitimate roles for government). Of course, I don’t have any spouses or ex-spouses, or children to get caught in custody or abandonment battles, so I really shouldn’t have to pay this fee.

Next insult: $19.23 for “State Indigent Trust.” I’m not sure why I am obligated to pay for bums in Nye County and Carson City. Just think about it: with all the residential buildings and commercial properties in Clark County paying this tax, there must be tens of millions of dollars going into this account. With that money, the state ought to be able to house the homeless in suburban neighborhoods with swimming pools, clean clothes, and three squares a day. Think about that next time you consider throwing a buck to a guy standing on the off-ramp with a cardboard sign.

Continuing on: $12.82 for “State Cooperative Extension.” I think this organization is an offshoot of the University of Nevada system. I only recognize the name from some nice old lady who used to talk about gardening on KNPR radio. Why YOU have to subsidize such make-work programs for educational bureaucrats, I’ll never know.

The next item is “LVMPD Emergency 911” at a cost of $6.41. Why this is on a PROPERTY tax bill escapes me. 9-1-1 service should be run by a charity and funded by voluntary contributions and sponsorships.

The last item on my tax bill is the only one that makes good sense to me, and it’s the lowest dollar amount: $1.02 for “Las Vegas Artesian Groundwater.” I haven’t seen that sold in bottles at the convenience store, but it sounds refreshing.

Forking over all this loot to the money-grubbing government types really irks me. And to make it worse, since I own a rental property, I pay DOUBLE the above amounts with no more benefit. And don’t make the tired, deflective argument that my tenants pay that tax. They don’t; the rent they pay just barely covers the loan on the property, so I have to eat the property taxes.

In Part III of this 3-part series, we’ll look at the sneaky way the bureaucrats present the tax bill. For those of you who pay property taxes on a commercial or industrial building, feel free to post your comments to this blog, especially if the tax distribution is different from residential bills.

I knew I shouldn’t have done it. But I did anyway. I opened up the property tax bill that arrived in yesterday’s mail.

My doctor warned me to avoid stressful situations like this. I knew it was going to be ugly, and blood pressure-raising, but I just HAD to see it – kinda like driving past a bad traffic accident: you know you should keep your eyes on the road ahead, but instinct pulls your gaze towards the gore.

For those of us who pay property taxes with our mortgage payment through an escrow/impound account, you don’t notice it too much (similar to the evil genius of withholding federal income taxes on your paycheck). But when you see it all at once, you can’t help but wonder where the hell it all goes, and who, exactly, are the beneficiaries of my involuntary generosity.

My annual tax bill is $3,751.12 for July 1, 2007 – June 30, 2008. The largest portion of that goes to . . . yep, you guessed it, secondary education. In this case: $1670.96 between “County School Maintenance & Operation” and “County School Debt (Bonds).” The worst part about this is that I DON’T HAVE ANY CHILDREN, so I am paying for my neighbor’s spawn to go underachieve in a dysfunctional, mismanaged, under-performing school. That makes me so happy! Another $217.93 of the property tax bill is distributed to the “State of Nevada,” which is returned in large part to the Clark County School District (about 30% of state funds are used for education), so now we’re up to about $1,900.00.

But wait, weren’t the vampires and unionistas in the legislature recently yammering about all the money they were spending on education in the 7 BILLION DOLLAR state budget? Yes, but that’s state money. This is local, county money. Huh?

Next on the list of INVOLUNTARY hand-outs is “Clark County General Operating” at $560.24. There’s no telling where that’s spent. If it was for roads improvement, that might be OK, but don’t we already pay for that through taxes on gasoline? And through the ballooning state budget?

Next: “LVMPD Manpower Supplement County.” I love how vague these people are. It’s something for police or police bureaucracy; who knows what “manpower supplement” is? Since I haven’t called the cops for help in the 10 years I’ve been here, yet I pay over $300 a year for this “supplement,” I don’t feel I’m getting my money’s worth. Oh, maybe it’s to pay for that motorcycle cop with the radar gun writing tickets on South Durango Drive, where a nonsensical 25 MPH speed limit is posted.

Moving on: $281.66 for “Clark County Fire Service District.” Again, I’ve never called the fire department for help in Las Vegas, or anywhere I’ve lived for that matter. Here’s an idea: if I burn my house down, send my insurance company the bill for your service. Or if I need a paramedic because I hurt myself, send me a bill. But don’t send my neighbor a bill for my problems!

Next freedom-robbing item: “Enterprise Town.” Do you know which town/township you live in? I’m guessing most people don’t. There’s Paradise Valley, and Spring Valley, and a bunch of others, but I don’t know what we’re funding with this tax. Perhaps it’s the salaries of our corrupt county commissioners.

Next is the aforementioned “State of Nevada.” The state receives the vast share of its booty, I mean revenues, from Sales & Use Taxes, Gaming Taxes, Insurance Premium Tax, and the unconstitutional Modified Business Tax. Why they need to stick it to homeowners and tenants through property taxes, I’m not sure.

You’re probably starting to tune out by now, with that glazed-over look in your eyes, so I’ll break for now and pick up where we left off in Property Taxes - Part II. I’ll bet you can’t wait! Tune in tomorrow, when we’ll talk about indigents and libraries . . . uggh!

“Why, of course, the people don’t want war…. Why would some poor slob on a farm want to risk his life in a war when the best that he can get out of it is to come back to his farm in one piece? Naturally, the common people don’t want war; neither in Russia nor in England nor in America, nor for that matter in Germany. That is understood. But, after all, it is the leaders of the country who determine the policy and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy or a fascist dictatorship or a Parliament or a Communist dictatorship….

Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in any country.”

– Hermann Goering, founder of the Gestapo, explaining the strategy Germany used leading up to WWII.

Thanks to a piece by Jacob Hornberger in LewRockwell.com for this quote.

Political scandals in Nevada, and particularly in Clark County, grace the headlines much more often than should be in a civil society. Probably most notorious has been the long-shameful Clark County Board of Commissioners with its admitted felons Lance Malone, Erin Kenny, Mary Kincaid-Chauncey, and Dario Herrera. But you can also add to that list the shameless rule-breaking and ethics-bending antics of Lynette Boggs and Yvonne Atkinson Gates. At the state level, the late Kathy Augustine was impeached for misuse of office resources for non-official activities. The list goes on and on.

If you’re like me, when you read these stories, do you think, “This must just the tip of the iceberg? These are only the ones that GET CAUGHT!” How many more public officials get away with ethics violations, small-time bribes, protection rackets, fraud, influence peddling, and other willful infractions?

We have a seriously malignant streak running through Nevada politics. What causes this? It brings to mind the nurture vs. nature question – did these elected officials become corrupt because of the environment in which they worked, or were they corrupt and morally bankrupt before being elected?

It’s probably a little of both. I believe that power-hungry, authoritarian types are drawn to so-called public service where they can wield power over others. Once elected to positions of authority and influence, they thrive and that thirst for power becomes more pronounced. Unfortunately, their sense of self-importance is constantly reinforced by lobbyists, special interests, sycophantic staffers, and fellow elected officials who see them as conduits for their own purposes, be it for regulatory protection from competitors or preferential zoning consideration, or for sweetheart service contracts, etc.

Ultimately, many of these elected officials forget about any so-called “public interest” and simply act and vote based on their own self-interest. As Lord Acton warned, “Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” Whether we’re talking about nation-state dictators or city councilmen, the temptation always exists to sell their souls to political cronies and those who supported their campaigns in their “rise to the top.” A quid pro quo exists, even with the most principled of men.

The late, great Harry Browne was a brilliant commentator on our political system and the perverse incentives built into it. He wrote, “It is pointless to talk about corruption in government. Every government program is corruption, because it is organized on the basis of who has the most political influence. Thus corruption – the buying and selling of legislators – is inherent in every government program.”

So if the term “political corruption” is redundant, what can we do about it? We must be ever vigilant. We must hold officials accountable, even when, or perhaps especially when, they are from our own parties.

Ask your legislators to support a Nevada resistance to the REAL ID Act, a pernicious intrusion of government into your life and another sure-footed step towards totalitarianism.

Several states have already thumbed their noses at the feds; we should do the same. Here’s a quote from New Hampshire’s exercise of its sovereignty.

“NO REAL ID in New Hampshire! Following the 24-0 vote of the New Hampshire Senate in May, Governor Lynch signed into law legislation prohibiting state agencies from complying with the federal REAL ID act. The NH House passed the bill 268-8 in April. From NH House Bill 685: ‘The general court finds that the public policy established by Congress in the Real ID Act of 2005, Public Law 109-13, is contrary and repugnant to Articles 1 through 10 of the New Hampshire constitution as well as Amendments 4 though 10 of the Constitution for the United States of America. Therefore, the state of New Hampshire shall not participate in any driver’s license program pursuant to the Real ID Act of 2005 or in any national identification card system that may follow therefrom.’”

Las Vegas loves Ron Paul! Just 231 years after the Declaration of Independence, there is a new revolution afoot. On 7-7-7 there was a Ron Paul rally at the Paris Hotel in Las Vegas, and hundreds of energetic supporters of all ages and backgrounds came out to endorse liberty and its only true candidate. Dr. Paul “hit the jackpot” with his message, saying, “Let’s legalize the Constitution.”

The wildly diverse crowd, including college activists, punk band rockers with tattoos and piercings, button-down, mainstream Republican types, and many Libertarian Party die-hards, continually rose to their feet to cheer in support of Dr. Paul’s articulated views on the war in Iraq, the so-called “war on terrorism,” military interventionism, the Second Amendment, dismantling the Federal Reserve System, and getting the Feds out of education.

I’ve been to lots of campaign rallies for candidates of various stripes. Usually with the big partisan races, such as for president, governor, or Congress, the supporters are mostly loyal because the candidate has a good chance of winning and because of his/her party affiliation, but not about message or ideology. It’s different with Ron Paul, though: his fans support his philosophy and his adherence to the true meaning of freedom. It’s a message and a movement larger than one man, but Ron Paul is the best man in today’s political arena to, as he says, “lead us always in the direction of liberty.”

After years, nay decades, of having to vote for the lesser of two evils, we finally have a man of principle running for president. Ron Paul is the only candidate who would truly reduce the size and scope of government. We should put every ounce of political energy and campaign contributions into this man’s run to the primaries. He’s a doctor. He’s a family man. He’s a constitutionalist. He’s a libertarian. He’s right.

In honor of July 4th, I’m going to take a holiday from writing an original blog, and cheat by copying a GREAT OPINION piece that came out in the R-J this past weekend. Steven Greenhut, columnist for the Orange County (California) Register, wrote an article about our eroding freedoms that you guys are going to love. I’ll copy an excerpt, and then you can link to the entire column if you’d like.

After repeating the always-inspiring preamble to the Declaration of Independence, Steven adds, “That’s radical stuff, a call to revolution against a government that imposed unjust tax burdens, trampled on the rights of individuals, abused its power, and went far beyond the core mission of protecting the life, liberty and property of its citizens.”

“Most people nod in agreement about the importance of the Declaration, content with the sense that we are free Americans, who can live as we choose without suffering under the thumb of oppressive government.” Of course, we realist readers know better . . . . Continue, please, Steven . . .

“If I want to build a new house, I need to petition any number of government agencies and commissions, and can build only what they allow. Those agencies decide not only if my project conforms to some basic, easily understood rules, but whether it conforms to their own preferences regarding style, color, historical influences, size, number of stories, and so forth. If I ever want to add on or improve that house, I must wait until a government inspector approves it. If I am a developer, and want to build a larger number of properties on a site, I must fight for years to get approvals – and usually the final project will bear little resemblance in style or design to my original vision.

If I want to start a new business, I not only will have to pay a large portion of any earnings to the government, but I must first get all the necessary approvals from myriad governments. I must pay my employees a minimum rate determined by the government. They may only work the number of hours set by the government. If it’s a restaurant or business that serves the public, I must get a conditional-use permit – a long list of conditions that micromanage exactly how I run the place, from the hours to the number of tables, based on the whims of the commissioners who must approve the business.

The 18th century German poet Johann Goethe said: ‘None are so hopelessly enslaved as those who falsely believe they are free.’ Am I off-base to wonder whether we are careening down that road?”

Good stuff, indeed. Happy July 4th! Go out there and remind someone of the real meaning of Independence Day.