TAX HIKE HISTORY
In 2009, Nevada taxpayers were told they had to eat a $640
million “temporary” tax hike to weather the worst of the economic storm that
hit our state.
In 2010, Gov. Brian
Sandoval (R&R-Advertising) campaigned on a promise not to extend those
“sunsets” or to raise any other taxes.
Instead, he said he would roll back spending to 2007 levels.
In 2011, Sandoval broke his promise and extended the
“sunsets” for another two years.
In 2013, Sandoval broke his word yet again by extending the
sunsets another two years.
This month, Sandoval broke his word again by proposing to
make the “temporary” tax hikes of 2009 permanent, as well as impose a new gross
receipts tax on Nevada’s businesses…even though 80 percent of Nevadans just
rejected a similar tax hike at the ballot box just two months ago.
Look, I know the guy is pretty and has nice hair and a disarming
smile…but it is really OK to lie to voters and try to stick us with a billion
dollar tax hike just because he’s a likeable metrosexual?
GOP’S MUTED RESPONSE TO BILLION DOLLAR TAX HIKE
The only thing more amazing than Gov. Brian Sandoval (R&R-Advertising) proposing a billion dollar tax
hike is the number of Republicans in the Legislature – especially
Speaker-of-the-Weak John Hambrick -
who have yet to declare this sneak-attack on Nevada’s businesses DOA!
Indeed, why are so many of these self-proclaimed fiscal
conservatives so afraid to say they oppose a billion dollar tax hike? And if they’re just going to knee-jerk vote
for whatever the governor wants, why even run for office? Especially as Republicans.
On the other hand, the GOP response and opposition to
President Barack Obama’s tax hike
proposal was immediate and unmistakable. For example, this from Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah)…
“The president needs to stop listening to his liberal allies who want to raise taxes at all costs and start working with Congress to fix our broken tax code.”
The same could have been said about Sandoval listening to
his liberal allies and working with conservative Republicans to fix our state’s
broken – not “broke” – public education system.
Or consider the following statement issued by Nevada
Republican U.S. Sen. Dean Heller
immediately after Obama’s State of the Union speech last night…
“Out-of-control spending, a costly health care law, and a seemingly endless stream of red tape are wreaking havoc on Nevada’s families and small businesses. The Silver State has seen its share of difficulties over the past years and continuing down the same path only serves as an impediment to our needed comeback. Unfortunately, tonight, President Obama failed to offer a legitimate road map for job creation or for turning the economy around.”
Substitute “Gov. Sandoval” for “President Obama” and
Heller’s statement could have been issued interchangeably immediately following
Sandoval’s State of the State address.
Yet all we got was…crickets.
Seriously, folks. If
Sandoval had a “D” after his name instead of mislabeling himself as an “R,”
Heller and every other Republican in Nevada would be calling for his scalp for
proposing a billion dollar tax hike.
PUTTING A FAILURE IN CHARGE OF FAILURE FACTORIES
Too many people are sweeping under the rug this proposal by
Gov. Brian Sandoval for the
education bureaucrats at the state level to take over control of up to 10
percent of local “failure factories,” a.k.a., public schools, and put them in
their own, separate school district.
Oh, and that the new school district would be run by a guy
named Pedro Martinez, who was fired last
year as the school superintendent for Washoe County.
That firing was controversial; not because of the reasons
given for firing the failed bureaucrat, but because the Washoe County school
board didn’t follow proper procedures as related to the state’s open meeting
law when they decided to ax him.
Um, shouldn’t Nevadans know exactly why Pedro was canned
before putting him back in charge of even more dysfunctional schools?
And get this…
The “impetus” behind hiring Pedro for this new position,
according to Clark County School Superintendent Pat Skorkowsky in a published report in today’s Las Vegas Review-Journal, was that “The
governor’s wife was upset.”
Well, if the governor’s wife is upset, that’s more than
enough reason to hire a fired bureaucrat, right? I mean, isn’t that how all public policy is
supposed to be determined?
I wonder which business the First Lady was upset with that
resulted in the governor’s new $440 million gross receipts tax proposal?
DRIVE-BY MUTHINGS
This is both funny and pathetic at the same time.
Democrats are running around boasting a CNN poll showing “that
81 percent of viewers had a positive view of President Barack Obama's State of the Union address last night.” But what the poll didn’t reveal is that
pretty much only Democrats wasted time actually watching it. So Obama got 81 percent of his base.
Yeah, that’s really something to cheer about.
* * *
* *
Republican Las Vegas City Councilman Stavros Anthony announced on Tuesday that he will run for Mayor of
Las Vegas against incumbent Mayor Carolyn
Goodman in April.
Anthony’s main platform issue will be the proposed
taxpayer-subsidized downtown soccer stadium being promoted by Goodman and opposed
by what appears to be all but 23 citizens of Las Vegas, half of whom are
relatives of the mayor.
Councilman Anthony stopped by our monthly center-right
coalition meeting after his announcement on Alan Stock’s KDWN 720 AM radio program. I jokingly asked if there was any chance that
he’d “pull a Hambrick” and change his opposition to the stadium deal after he
got elected.
His response: “Ohxi!”
It’s a Greek thing. Loose translation:
“Over my dead body, not in a million years.”
* * *
* *
Speaking of stadiums, the heavily-subsidized - the tune of
some $30 million - baseball stadium in Reno has been open since 2009, but in
all that time the owners haven’t paid a dime of the taxes the city says they
owe. The owners are disputing that they
owe some $2.7 million is back taxes, interests and penalties.
What Vegas has to look forward to if the soccer stadium
boondoggle isn’t killed.
CITIZEN LOBBYIST SEMINAR
You can make a BIG difference in this upcoming legislative
session with only a couple minutes a day.
Learn how to fight Gov. Brian
Sandoval’s billion dollar tax hike at a 90-minute workshop this Saturday
morning in Las Vegas.
“How to be an Effective Citizen Lobbyist” will be conducted
by veteran citizen lobbyist and conservative activist Janine Hansen at the Las Vegas Library at 833 Las Vegas Blvd., just
north of downtown, across the street from Cashman Field. The program is being
cosponsored by Citizen Outreach and other conservative organizations.
Registration begins at 10:00 am. The program will run from 10:30 am until
noon. A $10 donation will be collected
to cover the cost of handout materials and other expenses. For more information, please visit www.ccnviap.org/seminar.shtml.
FAMOUS LAST WORDS
“I read with great merriment the story of (Assemblyman)
Chris Edwards, as I know first-hand who and what he is. I had some bad dealings with him. If you’re looking for the truth, whatever you
do, don't look anywhere around Edwards.
He has no idea what it is or where it can be found. How did he last in the Navy 26 years as
dishonest as he is??? Wonder if the Navy story is true???” – Silver
State Confidential reader
No comments:
Post a Comment