SILVER STATE CONFIDENTIAL 12/16/2014

TAX REFORM AND THE TAX PLEDGE There’s a lot of talk about reforming Nevada’s tax structure to make it broader.  That includes reducing the sales tax rate but extending it to certain services.  For the record, such tax reform would NOT be a violation of the Taxpayer Protection Pledge as long as it doesn’t result in a net tax increase that takes more money out of our pockets and puts it in the government’s pockets. That said, there is legitimate concern among many conservatives that even if a tax on services is adopted in a revenue-neutral fashion, down the road we’ll be looking at tax hikes on haircuts as well as widgets.  So it’s definitely something to be concerned about even though, again, such a reform proposal adopted in a revenue-neutral fashion would not be a Pledge violation. A spoonful of sugar to help such medicine go down would be a constitutional amendment closing a loophole in the Gibbons Tax Restraint law that allows tax hikes on the ballot – like the recently defeated “margins tax” – to be approved by a simple majority vote.  Let’s change it so that tax hikes on the ballot, just like tax hikes in the Legislature, must be approved by a 2/3 super-majority, as well.  That would go a long way towards protecting Nevadans from getting scalped down the road with tax hikes on haircuts. See.  I can compromise. COLLABORATOR CAUCUS UPDATE I received an email on Monday from a subscriber that read… “(Assemblyman) P.K. O’Neil absolutely denies that he should be on your BS team of tax hikers.  He told the Chairwoman of the Carson Republican Women that he is not part of the Cabal & confirmed this with Carole Feinberg, who heads up the Conservative Talk Lunch group in Washoe county.” With all due respect, talk is cheap…especially when it comes to politicians.  We’ve all learned that lesson the hard way over many years of fork-tongued broken promises. Remember back in 2008 when the late Sen. Bill Raggio verbally promised he wouldn’t support raising taxes when facing a primary challenge by Sharron Angle…and then went on to propose and vote for over $600 million worth of “temporary” tax hikes (the “sunsets”) that were supposed to expire in 2011? Remember back in 2010 when Gov. Brian Sandoval absolutely, positively promised, in no uncertain terms, that he would neither raise taxes or extend the “sunsets” (which he’s now done twice, and will soon be coming back for a third bite at the apple)? And remember how Senate Majority Leader Moderate Mike Roberson signed the Taxpayer Protection Pledge on Tax Day at a Tea Party rally promising “to oppose and vote against any and all efforts to increase taxes” – before supporting and proposing over a BILLION dollars in higher taxes last year? As Robert Ringer, author of “Winning through Intimidation,” so artfully put it… “With a written agreement, you have a prayer.  With a verbal agreement, you have nothing but air.” So unless or until we see something in writing by folks who supported moderate Assemblyman Paul Anderson over Assemblyman John Hambrick for Speaker-designate, they must remain on the “suspect list” of Assembly Republicans who might support the “nuclear option” of siding with Democrats to vote for a Speaker on February 2nd other than the Speaker-designate chosen by the majority of the members of the Republican Assembly Caucus. That said, Assemblyman O’Neill sent a follow-up email to a number of people in northern Nevada after Monday’s Silver State Confidential went out.  It read, in part… “I will continue to support Assembly Speaker-designate John Hambrick in his leadership role despite any individual policy differences that we may have today or may have in the future. … Please do not confuse a willingness to listen to ideas of policy as votes for an alternate Speaker of the Assembly.” Perfect.  And with that I am happy to remove Assemblyman O’Neill from our list of “Collaborator Caucus” suspects.  So the remaining current running list is now… Pat Hickey - Pathickey@dataclonemail.com Derek Armstrong - derekarmstrong@arlintlaw.com Paul Anderson - paul@andersonfornevada.com Randy Kirner - randy.kirner@gmail.com Lynn Stewart - lynnstewart@cox.net Melissa Woodbury - woodmlw@yahoo.com Stephen Silberkraus - stephen@silberkraus.com Remember, it will only take five turncoat Republicans siding with the 17 Democrats to elect a Speaker other than Speaker-designate Hambrick, so the threat is still very real. DRIVE-BY MUTHINGS OK, I accept that someone wishing you “Happy Holidays” isn’t an insult.  But it still warmed my heart when the young lady at Jim Marsh’s Kia dealership wished me a very warm “Merry Christmas” when I called there yesterday.  I hope the ACLU doesn’t picket the place! *   *   *   *   * When I read in the Wall Street Journal this morning that “Taliban militants stormed a military-run school in northwestern Pakistan, killing at least 84 people, most of them schoolchildren…,” my first thought was, “Yeah, waterboarding is really a bad thing.”  Not. And apparently I’m not the only one who thinks that way.  Aaron Blake of the Washington Post wrote today… “Despite detailing what are some pretty controversial practices — up to and including 'rectal feeding' — Americans didn't pay much attention to the (“torture”) report, and they still support the CIA's practices by more than a 20-point margin.” *   *   *   *   * Congratulations to conservative freshman Assemblywoman Jill Dickman and conservative Assembly Jim Wheeler, who were the subjects of a liberal protest march through their fundraising event in Reno last night!  Leftwing agitator Bob Fulkerson and about a dozen liberal zombies from the Progressive Liberal Alliance of Nevada (PLAN) showed up chanting mindlessly about – heck, I have no idea what they were whining about.  But when you’re a conservative Republican and the left targets you with something like this, you know you’re doing something “right”! *   *   *   *   * Just as Jon Ralston, Nevada’s #2 liberal blogger-without-a-TV-show, continues to falsely advertise on his Twitter page that he is "a NV political journalist w/a TV program…”, former Assembly Minority Leader Pat “The Appeaser” Hickey continues to falsely advertise on his Twitter page that he’s the “Republican Assembly leader for Nevada.” These guys are having a hard time accepting reality. *   *   *   *   * Speaking of Ralston, “Citizen Outhouse” - when I checked his blog site this morning - had moved up to the #2 spot (besting moderate Assemblyman Paul Anderson by two votes), and was just 3 votes from the current #1 response, “Some other unlucky sap.”  This in response to Ralston's online poll question: "Who will be the Assembly Speaker on February 2nd?" Come on folks, get out and vote.  Dan and I want to be co-speakers! Click here and scroll down the right-hand column. *   *   *   *   * Assembly Majority Leader Michele Fiore went on Alan Stock’s program on KDWN 720 AM in Las Vegas this morning and answered questions about the IRS tax liens filed against a pair of her businesses.  Turns out the liens are the result of an employee embezzling money.  Fiore explained that all but two of the liens have already been settled and she’s making $5,000/month payments to resolve the other two. Prediction: Fiore’s critics won’t accept the explanation; will keep raising a ruckus. Cue Jon Ralston… “If this were a much smaller amount of money and wasn't her fault, why did it take so long for @votefiore to say anything?” Um, maybe because not everybody dances on command from Nevada’s #2 liberal blogger-without-a-TV-program.  Get over yourself, Jonny Boy. But at least he spelled “vote” correctly this time! *   *   *   *   * Back to the interview, Fiore also named names of outside individuals who have been actively involved in sowing discord among GOP caucus members: political consultants Nathan Emens and Cory Christensen, whose rogue activities Fiore says are being funded by establishment GOP donor and mining tax hike proponent Monte Miller. That sound you heard was not a nuclear warhead going off at the Nevada Test Site, but three heads exploding simultaneously. *   *   *   *   * I received this from a Silver State Confidential subscriber… “I was told by a person who works for the State and is in charge of preparing and submitting a budget, that they were not given any cap by the Governor's office this time like in years past, so they could ask for the moon, which they did, and THAT'S why the ‘wish list’ is so high.  The Governor wanted the request to be high so he could push the tax increase to fill the ‘hole.’” For some reason, I don’t doubt it one iota… *   *   *   *   * Heard it through the grapevine: Liberal Democrat Clark County Commissioner Chris Giunchigliani is seriously mulling a second run for mayor of Las Vegas next year. Incumbent Mayor Carolyn Goodman hosted a re-election fundraiser last night at Cili’s and it was very well attended.  Chris G’s gonna have a tough time beating Vegas’ “First Family.” FAMOUS LAST WORDS "We do have a Republican majority in both houses of the (Nevada) Legislature. … The Republicans now have Conservative leaders, including the Speaker in the Assembly. This is only IF the RINOS do not sellout and join an unholy alliance with the Democrats in order to pass Governor Sandoval’s Billion Dollar Tax Increase.” -  John Wagner, chairman, Nevada Independent American Party HOW TO SUBSCRIBE Silver State Confidential is an email newsletter on Nevada politics, public policy and current events published (usually) daily by Chuck Muth, Nevada's #1 Renegade Conservative and the man voted "Most Likely to Irritate Liberals!"  Click on the link below for subscription information…