The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) released a new report this week which showed that Nevada’s generally low-tax/pro-business environment was a driving force behind our economic success from 1997 through 2007. As the Las Vegas Review-Journal noted in a story on Friday, ALEC found “that income taxes are more important to entrepreneurs than any other kind of fee or levy” when deciding whether or not to open or relocate a business here.
So it is almost unbelievable that in the middle of this recession, with jobs drying up faster than an unwatered Pahrump lawn in August, that Democrat Senate Majority Leader Steven Horsford, the far-Left anti-business loons at the Progressive Leadership Alliance of Nevada (PLAN), the mining industry, and some in the gaming industry all want to impose a corporate income tax on Nevada’s small businesses.
“Nevada doesn’t have a problem because it doesn’t tax enough,” said Jonathan Williams, Director of Tax and Fiscal Policy at ALEC. “It has a problem because it spent more than the tax revenue that came in. When the private sector doesn’t have cash flow, it doesn’t ask for more money like legislators can with taxpayers. It cuts expenses first. Legislators can’t expect taxpayers to pay the bill every time the government overspends in good years.”
Williams further noted that our neighbor to the West “has the nation’s highest income and sales taxes,” yet is darned near bankrupt.
“Broadening” the tax base and screwing small businesses won’t fix Nevada’s budget problems. Cutting non-essential government spending will fix Nevada’s budget problems.
What should be cut? Who knows? It’s been almost three years since Jim Gibbons was elected governor and Kim Wallin was elected Controller – and yet the state government’s checkbook STILL isn’t available for review by taxpayers on a public website so we can see for ourselves where the waste and non-essential spending is. What the hell are these two waiting for?
