MUTH’S TRUTHS

The Associated Press is reporting this afternoon that Senate and Assembly negotiators have emerged from their smoke-filled back room with a consensus budget “deal.” That means…be afraid. Be very, very afraid. Because legislators have only one thing on their mind this late in the game…going home. And they don’t really care how much it costs us.

The “deal” is for a $7 billion budget…about $200 million more than the governor’s original proposal. That amounts to a significant increase over what the budget would have been allowed to grow if TASC - the Tax and Spending Control initiative - was in place. That should mean that at least one Senate Republican, Sen. Bob Beers, the author of TASC - will be voting “no” on this “deal.”

The “deal” also reportedly includes a variety of fee (taxes by another name) increases. The AP reports that the fee hikes mainly affect “interest groups willing to accept them”…meaning interests groups which are willing to pass on the higher fees to consumers. That would be…you and me.

Full-day kindergarten, the darling program of the liberal left, will grow under the “deal”…and it’s not quite clear whether there will be an increase in the business payroll tax or not.

Oh, and this is in addition to the separate fight still to come over highway construction funding…with the AP reporting that the trucking industry is now OK with raising the cost of diesel fuel by 3 cents a gallon…which, of course, means we’ll all being picking up the tab through higher prices.

In other words, there ain’t a damn thing in this “deal” for fiscal conservatives to be excited about.

But like I said, this is no longer about fiscal responsibility or political philosophy; this is all about wrapping up the session and going home. Legislators will again get the gold (pork); we’ll again get the shaft.

Happy Memorial Day.

Posted on May 28th, 2007 by Chuck Muth
Filed under: Nevada