For the life of me, I don’t know why this “fee” thing is so complicated for some people to understand.
A “fee” directed to or by the government is nothing more than a tax by another name.
Now a user fee and a fees to fund government regulation of an industry are two different things.
A fee charged to the gaming industry to fund the hiring of two new government regulators is a MANDATORY fee paid to underwrite the cost of operating a governmental function.
On the other hand, a user fee charged to someone to use a public park for a wedding is a user fee which is OPTIONAL. You only have to pay the fee if you use the facility. There’s nothing mandatory about paying this money to the government whatsoever.
Yet some folks still argue that it should be OK to raise the fee on the gaming industry to pay for hiring new regulators because that fee is only charged to people who “use” that type of government service…even though the industry doesn’t have any option BUT to pay the fee. Why, these folks argue, should ALL taxpayers have to pay to fund the regulation of the gaming industry?
OK, follow this logic to its natural conclusion: Why, then, should taxpayers who do NOT have children attending public schools have to pay for running the public schools? Why not charge only those parents who are “using” the public schools for the cost of operating the public schools?
“Oh, but Chuck, education is a compelling community interest,” you might say. “So EVERYBODY has to pay.”
OK, fine. But do you mean to tell me assuring that our gaming industry is on the up-and-up in order to protect our reputation and tourism industry is NOT a compelling community interest in this state? And if it is…and it is…then the ENTIRE community should shoulder the cost, right?
Case closed.
Posted on June 5th, 2007 by Chuck Muth
Filed under: Nevada
Case Not Closed,
I’m being TAXED to pay for after school day care (sports), when the parents should be paying a FEE. School for learning is COMPELLING: Sports for fun is OPTIONAL.
The issue is more complex than Chuck maintains.
Before coming to LV I lived in a town that had a Republican government in a rabidly democratic state. Our community had taxes so low that they offset a significant degree of the state’s greed for my money. And they had one of the best school systems in the country and an awesome library system. Their parks included an island beach in Long Island sound
Part of how they accomplished this feat was extensive use of user fees (taxes), Which enabled those who wanted certain services to pay for them without burdening the rest of us with higher taxes. At the same time the total tax cost to residents even including those who paid fees using most of the services was one of the lowest in the region.
They did not pretend that the fees were not taxes but only a tool in administering a very efficient and cost effective government. The five term mayor was a friend pridefully dedicated to low cost delivery of the services his constituents really wanted