Probably the best thing fiscal conservatives can say about the 2007 session of the Nevada Legislature is that it’s over and no real harm was done.
On the one hand, Gov. Jim Gibbons (R) won the tax-hike debate by promising voters he wouldn’t raise taxes and (gasp!) keeping his promise despite enormous pressure, much from fellow “Republicans,” to break it. Truth be told, there were some minor fee increases in the final budget, and the governor failed to veto a tax hike proposal for Washoe County, but these technical violations of the Taxpayer Protection Pledge were de minimus.
Without a doubt, had the governor not drawn a line in the sand on tax hikes before and during the session, there WOULD have been tax hikes. Indeed, Republicans in the state Senate accounted for the majority of votes on at least five different efforts to raise taxes in various counties this year, and Democrats in the Assembly were eying some $2 billion in higher taxes to pay for “critical” highway construction.
Taxpayers should keep this in mind in 2008, because the jihad for tax hikes will be exponentially greater in the 2009 legislative session. Voters should demand that candidates for legislative seats sign the same Taxpayer Protection Pledge that Gov. Gibbons has signed, and it they don’t, strongly consider voting for someone else.
The bad news was on the spending front. The governor’s proposed budget back in January called for a huge 18 percent increase in spending. The final over-stuffed budget weighed in with a 20 percent increase. Overall, the general fund budget ballooned from $5.8 billion when Gov. Guinn left office to over $7 billion this biennium.
Here’s a cold, hard fact: If you don’t restrain spending, future tax hikes are inevitable.
That’s why some 140,000 Nevada voters signed the TASC petition last year – the ballot initiative championed by state Sen. Bob Beers (R) which would have limited the growth of government spending to the combined rate of inflation plus population growth. Had TASC been in place this year, the budget would have been allowed to grow by “only” 13.5 percent. That would have put the spending limit at just under $6.6 billion. So the 2007 Legislature spent $400 million-plus in excess of what it would have been allowed to spend with TASC in place.
The most distressing aspect of this is the fact that Sen. Beers himself - the father of TASC who campaigned on it throughout his entire gubernatorial campaign last year – ended up voting for the $7 billion budget which shattered his own cap. So much for walking the walk.
Again, fiscal conservatives should ask each and every candidate running in legislative races next year whether or not they’ll promise to vote against any budget which exceeds the combined rate of inflation plus population growth…including Sen. Beers. In addition, every candidate should be asked if they support the following measures to further help put the brakes on the Tax-and-Spend Express:
(1) The creation of a Nevada version of Ronald Reagan’s “Grace Commission” to identify significant spending cuts in the current budget.
(2) The creation of a “Tax Me More” fund for voluntary contributions toward highway construction and other government “needs.” Everyone who calls for tax hikes on everyone else should first make a personal commitment by voluntarily paying more themselves. Jim Rogers, call your banker.
(3) 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 money on. Transparency is the name of the game.
(4) Elimination of union-only Project Labor Agreements on government construction projects so that non-union companies can bid on contracts and potentially save taxpayers a considerable amount of money.
No, taxes weren’t raised in 2007. But to keep it that way in 2009, some serious decisions about real spending cuts will need to be made, and some liberal Democrats and a few wishy-washy Republicans need to go. That’s a pretty tall order. So grab your wallets…and hold tightly.
Posted on June 22nd, 2007 by Chuck Muth
Filed under: Nevada
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