SILVER STATE CONFIDENTIAL 03/27/2015

AX THE TAX NOW! On Thursday, the highly-respected Tax Foundation royally and rightly ripped Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval’s Billion Dollar Tax Hike, including his “complex and arbitrary” Gross Receipts Tax 2.0, to shreds.  Read it here.  It’s a thing of beauty. This morning, Sandoval’s handlers and ghost-writers ripped the Tax Foundation report to shreds and slammed the Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce for commissioning the study.  Click here to read all about it. In a press release, Sandoval called the report “utterly irresponsible, intellectually dishonest and built upon erroneous assumptions.” Talk about the pot calling the kettle black!!! The Chamber, always more interested in staying in the good graces of power brokers than looking out for the interests of its members, immediately threw the Tax Foundation under the bus, “pulling a Simon Peter.”  (We don’t know them!) In addition to confirming what we already know about the Chamber – that it’s pretty much useless as far as taxpayers and small business owners are concerned – the brouhaha also tells us that efforts to Gruber* the Billion Dollar Tax Hike aren’t going too well and tax-hiking RINOs know it. As such, Senate Majority Leader Tax Hike Mike Roberson (RINO) intends to rush Sandoval’s tax hike through the Senate Taxation Committee this afternoon so that a floor vote to cram it down our throats can be held as early as next week before the growingly vocal opposition thoroughly coalesces.  The desperate and heated tone of the RINOs’ reactions to the Tax Foundation study are a lesson in what’s to come for conservatives in the Assembly who are opposed to the Sandoval-Roberson Billion Dollar Tax Hike.  As Joe Biden would say, “Gird your loins, folks!” * “Gruber” refers to Jonathan Gruber, the MIT economist caught on tape admitting that they lied and misled the public in order to pass ObamaCare because they thought the voters were too stupid to understand. DRIVE-BY MUTHINGS Sen. Harry Reid has announced that he will NOT be running for re-election in 2016.  All I can say is, “I told you so.”  Over a year ago, when Las Vegas City Councilman Bob Beers announced his candidacy for the seat.  I mean, come on.  Reid only won in 2010 because Republicans nominated the only candidate who could possibly have lost to him.  Even Republicans couldn’t be that stupid a second time. Anyway, while I disagreed with Sen. Reid about 98 percent of the time, I have always had great respect for his political talents and ruthless implementation.  I wish him well in retirement and only wish it would start sooner! *   *   *   *   * BTW, with Reid gone, I guess Nevada’s #2 liberal blogger Jon Ralston’s value as a contributing blogger for Politico drops to, well, zero…approximately the number of people watching his new show on taxpayer-subsidized TV. *   *   *   *   * In light of Rep. Cresent Hardy’s op-ed last weekend calling for an open and honest discussion/debate on Yucca Mountain, Citizen Outreach is in the field today and tomorrow doing a new statewide public opinion robo-survey on the issue.  Hope to have some results for everybody on Monday. *   *   *   *   * UNLV’s new president, Len Jessup, has now come out in opposition to conservative Assemblywoman Michele Fiore’s campus carry bill.  There’s no way to sugarcoat this: Jessup is now a confirmed rapist enabler who is hostile to the Second Amendment right to self-defense.  What a sad commentary on the state of “higher” education in Nevada. Speaking of which… *   *   *   *    * In a column supporting Common Core by University Regents Mike Wixom and Jason Geddes that was published in the Las Vegas Review-Journal today, GOP presidential candidate Mike Huckabee is quoted as having said that the federal Common Core standards are “not something to be afraid of; indeed they are something to embrace.” If that’s what Huckabee truly believes then HE is something to be afraid of and NOT to be embraced as a presidential candidate by conservatives. *   *   *   *   * Assemblyman Mike Sprinkle (D) has introduced a bill banning smoking in your own, private personal car if children are in it, even if the windows are down.  Second-hand smoke, of course.  But taking his Big Brother nannyism to an even further absurd length, Sprinkle added an amendment banning the smoking of e-cigarettes in your own private personal car even though e-cigs use NO TOBACCO and, therefore, there is no “second-hand smoke.”  Some liberals just aren’t happy running their own miserable lives; they insist on running everybody else’s, as well. *   *   *   *   * The Nevada Supreme Court is poor-mouthing at the Legislature, complaining that revenue is down because cops are issuing fewer tickets.  Leading one to the obvious conclusion that the real objective of traffic tickets today is revenue enhancement for the government and not traffic safety.  That’s no way to fund a legitimate function of government.  Let’s shut down the redundant Nevada Office of Nuclear Projects and shift that money to the courts and lower the fines for minor traffic violations. *   *   *   *   * Longtime grassroots activist, one-time state assembly candidate, and generous conservative donor Larry Green has thrown his hat into the ring for the upcoming Washoe County chairmanship election.  He’s challenging incumbent Chairman Sam Kumar and what Green describes as the “closed door, private club philosophy” of the current party leadership there. *   *   *   *   *  Somer Hollingsworth has announced his retirement from what formerly was known as the Nevada Development Authority this week.  Hollingsworth is the poet who coined one of my favorite lines of all time: “Government has one business.  That’s to beat the crap out of you.” That was years ago.  Before the Sandoval-Roberson Billion Dollar Tax Hike.  In other words, his words are truer today than ever.  Happy trails, Somer! NEVADA NEWS & VIEWS Jeb Bush is Learning the Wrong Lesson from his Father about Tax Hikes Harry Reid, Senate minority leader, to retire The 13 Million Percent Tax: Nevada Considers Complex, Arbitrary BLF Proposal Muth: A shocking discovery on why your power bill is higher than it should be LVRJ: Legislature must let Uber operate in Nevada Heck issues statement on House passage of permanent SGR fix GOP spark plug Engage Nevada gets new president School districts see little-to-no savings on ‘green’ schools, study shows Harry Reid continues his crusade against affordable Energy Gingrich: We Are Losing to an Enemy We Refuse to Name Advertising NOW AVAILABLE!  Click here for additional information. READERS WRITE “I am a small businessman in Nevada, an engineering consultant.  Due to my reduced client workload, I expect my income to be substantially less in 2015 than in previous years, and barely enough to pay the bills.  If my $200 business license ‘fee’ (tax) goes up to $400  or more next year, I will close up shop and retire early.  End of story.” - David Thomas  FAMOUS LAST WORDS “You can’t tax business.  Business doesn’t pay taxes.  It collects them.” – Ronald Reagan 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…