I know there are 50 ways to leave your lover, but just how many different ways does a poor guy have to say “no new taxes” before some people get the message?
On Saturday, political columnist Jon Ralston reported on “a plan that could be introduced in the state Senate, primarily pushed by Dennis Nolan and John Lee” which would, among other things, raise taxes to fund highway construction. The plan would increase taxes on diesel fuel by 3-cents a gallon, assuring Nevadans higher prices for all the food and other products currently being trucked into the Silver State. It would also add an additional 20 cents to the cost of grabbing a cab to the supermarket to buy those more-expensive groceries or your doctor’s office, as well as jack up the amount of money you pay for your car by changing the depreciation schedule.
Hearken back, dear readers, to a year ago in beautiful, downtown Mesquite, Nevada. There the Nevada Republican Party was holding its biannual state convention. And this is where gubernatorial candidate Jim Gibbons found the first way to say no to new taxes. Yours truly was a witness to then-Rep. Gibbons signing the Taxpayer Protection Pledge for governors sponsored by Americans for Tax Reform. The pledge reads simply…
“I, Jim Gibbons, pledge to the taxpayers of Nevada, and all the people of this state, that I will oppose and veto any and all efforts to increase taxes.”
Seriously. What part of this is so doggone hard for some people to understand?
UNHAPPY CAMPERS
Of course, if you’re the kind of legislator who WANTS to raise taxes, you’re not a happy camper about the governor making this promise to the people who elected him. And THAT’S the point.
Of all the people involved in this public policy dispute over how to fund highway construction…the legislators, the lobbyists, the convention authority representatives and the media…Gov. Gibbons is the ONLY one to have been elected statewide by a vote of the people.
That should mean something, shouldn’t it?
Not to the big-government tax hikers. They’ve been relentless this legislative session in trying to get Gov. Gibbons to break his promise to the voters who elected him. Indeed, they’ve come up with well over 50 different ways to find an exception to the tax hike pledge. But the governor ain’t buying it.
Here’s the only exception: If THE PEOPLE themselves decide to tax themselves. That means THE PEOPLE go out and collect enough valid signatures on a petition to place a tax hike on the ballot, and then THE PEOPLE vote to raise taxes on themselves. The very same process THE PEOPLE have had to follow to put tax and spending restraint initiatives on the ballot in the past.
Seriously. What part of this is so doggone hard for some people to understand?
County commissioners aren’t THE PEOPLE. City councilmen aren’t THE PEOPLE. State legislators aren’t THE PEOPLE. THE PEOPLE are THE PEOPLE.
MAKE A PROMISE, KEEP A PROMISE
But some people, who aren’t THE PEOPLE…people such as Sens. Nolan and Lee…just can’t seem to take no for an answer. So they’re still actively trying to reach a “compromise” to raise taxes, apparently believing that Gov. Gibbons will break his promise. Maybe, being politicians themselves, they think Gibbons’ pledge to the people of Nevada isn’t worth the paper it’s printed on.
They’re thinking wrong.
In response the latest Nolan/Lee Tax Hike scheme of 2007, the governor issued a strongly-worded statement which anyone who can read plain English should understand plainly enough. The statement included the following…
“…I will not raise taxes on the people of this state. For anyone who doubts my resolve on this — let me make it clear one more time — I will not raise taxes to fund the transportation problems of our state, period. I have said from the beginning that I do not believe the citizens of our state should be required to shoulder the burden of paying for growth through higher taxes. There should be no mystery here about my position on increased taxes. . . . We have existing revenue streams that can and should fund our needs. We can and will use those revenues, not create new ones.”
Seriously. What part of this is so doggone hard for some people to understand?
The governor, unlike legislative Republicans during the 2003 tax fight four short years ago, hasn’t just said “no new taxes.” He has responsibly put forward an alternative plan to fund the state’s highway construction needs without raising taxes. His plan sets spending priorities and uses existing tax revenue…exactly what he said he would do when he ran for this office last year. Candidate Gibbons said he would save us money last year, and with this alternative plan, he is.
THIS IS WHAT ELECTIONS ARE ALL ABOUT
Legislators don’t have to like the plan. And if they want to pass their own plan including various tax hikes, that’s their right. The governor then has the right to veto their tax hike plan, a right he has emphatically said he will exercise. The Legislature then will have the right to override the governor’s veto and pass their tax hikes themselves.
And this will give the governor the opportunity to go into the next election season telling voters and taxpayers that he KEPT his promise and vetoed any and all efforts to raise taxes, but the Democrats raised them anyway. He’ll be able to say, “Give me more Republicans in the Legislature to protect you from future tax increases.”
Under that scenario, who do you think will ultimately win at the ballot box in 2008?
Exactly. The ONLY way the governor can lose in this fight is if he breaks his pledge. The Democrats (and a few Nolan Republicans) know this, which is why they are trying so desperately to get the governor to flip-flop. But I’m being told the governor is rock solid on this and ain’t about to budge, not even an inch. And if that means keeping the Legislature in special sessions all summer long to do their job without raising our taxes, so be it. After all, he lives just a few blocks away.
The sooner state legislators realize and accept the reality that no means no to this governor, the sooner they’ll come up with an acceptable proposal to wrap up this session and go home.
Speaker Barbara Buckley should immediately convene hearings on the governor’s “no tax hike” plan for funding highway construction, pass it - or some version of it which does NOT include ANY tax or fee hikes - and vamoose from Carson City for another two years.
So let it be written; so let it be done.
Posted on May 27th, 2007 by Chuck Muth
Filed under: Nevada
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