The CONSERVATIVE State of the State Address for Nevada

Our friend Wayne Allyn Root produced this Conservative State of the State address as a rebuttal to former Assemblywoman Sheila Leslie’s Progressive State of the State address and includes a reference to a recent “Muth’s Truths” column…

I’m Wayne Allyn Root. I’m giving tonight’s State of the State of Nevada speech as an alternative to liberals like former Nevada State Senator Sheila Leslie, or moderates like Governor Brian Sandoval. I don’t represent a party. I am a capitalist evangelist, serial entrepreneur, small business owner, home-school dad, and citizen politician.

I’ve never been in government in my life. I’ve never worked for government. I’ve never had a government contract. I moved to Nevada to escape the big government tax and spend Nanny State of California. And while I don’t know much about government, I’m far too familiar with how government damages the economy, destroys small business, and kills jobs.

I know Nevada small businesses are suffering…I know Las Vegas businesses are still going out of business at a record pace…I saw two businesses out of business in my Henderson neighborhood just today…I know things are not getting better…I know we’re being lied to by the politicians in charge…I know we spend too much already on Las Vegas public schools and they are a disgrace…and getting worse…I know without a single public school classroom in her life, my daughter Dakota was home-schooled to Harvard…won the John Harvard Award for top 5% of students at Harvard…and is now attending Oxford…not one penny of public money had to be spent on her education. So I know it isn’t about the money. I know we need to do better- and I know more money has nothing to do with it. How much would be enough for the teachers unions? Perhaps every dime we make? Would that be enough? I’m betting the teachers unions would still ask for more. And the results wouldn’t be any better.

I don’t think politicians, mayors, legislators, or even our esteemed Governor have a clue what’s it’s really like to run a business in this horrible economy. We are in a Great Depression II. Business owners like me are at the breaking point…we are being squeezed from every angle…our incomes are dramatically down…prices are way up (even though govt. says there is no inflation)…yet politicians raise our taxes…and try to take away our deductions at the same time.

Just a little economics lesson for Nevada’s politicians…if the home mortgage is taken away, Nevada home prices will collapse farther than we saw in 2007-2010…and without the mortgage deduction many supposedly “rich” Nevadans with homes already under water, who have been faithfully paying their bank loans, will choose to stop paying and walk away. So politicians will crash the housing market and cause a new round of foreclosures. And we all know real estate is the under-pinning of the entire economy. Good luck trying to raise taxes anytime soon in that economic environment.

I know that I’m desperately trying to cut my bills…cut my budget…cut my spending…both personally and at my business…meanwhile President Obama and Gov. Sandoval insult us all by cutting nothing…by raising spending…and raising taxes…always looking to confiscate more from us. Well I have a news flash for the politicians- the piggy bank is broken- the taxpayers have no more money. The business owners are either out of business, or hanging by a thread. The jig is up- you can’t raise taxes, simply because we have no more to give. You can’t get blood from a stone. Not unless you want unrest in the streets.

I know I had a company with over 100 employees in Las Vegas for 10 years…with that one small Las Vegas business I pumped over $60 million into the economy. I closed it a few years back because having employees is unaffordable in this economy- because of government, because of taxes, because of never-ending and expensive rules, regulations and mandates. I reinvented myself as an online company with 1 employee- me. And I made more money than with 100 employees. The costs of payroll, payroll taxes, health insurance, and rent for 100 employees is no longer affordable for a small businessman. Those days are over. Congratulations to the politicians. You’ve done one hell of a job.

But that means 100 Las Vegas citizens are out of a job. That’s the real state of the economy.

The reality is the politicians are destroying the economy with their “solutions.” Please stop helping us– we can’t take it anymore!

And let’s not forget healthcare. Obama promised health insurance costs would drop $2500 per family. Instead they are have increased $3000 per family during Obama’s first term. With the advent of Obamacare each of us will continue to see our rates skyrocket…while quality of service declines…as it always does with government in charge.

Please keep in mind that government fails at everything it does. The U.S. Postal Service lost $15.9 billion last year- even though they have no competition- as mandated by law. No private company or industry has ever in history produced results like that.

It’s time to get government out of our lives. To make it smaller. To make it more limited- as the Founding Fathers intended. Before all of our economy produces results like the pathetic U.S. Postal Service.

Yet Governor Sandoval is making government bigger and throwing our state in with Obamacare- the biggest government program in history…and certain to be the biggest money loser in history. Many other states with foresight are fighting it…Nevada is welcoming it with open hands to put more of our citizens on Medicare and Medicaid.

And let’s not forget the future of our children. On the federal level, Obama promised to cut the deficit in half…instead he doubled it. So what is the future for our kids? How will they pay all this deficit and debt?

On the state level, our government employees are among the highest paid in the country. How will they pay for all the pensions of Nevada government employees? We already have about $20 billion in unfunded liabilities just for the state of Nevada. What will this crushing debt do to our children? How will it affect their quality of life.

How can we ask future taxpayers to pay bloated pensions for Nevada government employees, when most taxpayers have no pension? How can we continue to allow government employees to retire at age 45 or 50, with $100,000 pensions, when taxpayers and small business owners (like me) can never retire. We’re being forced to work until the day we die to pay for government employees who retire too young, to be paid for 30 or 40 years for not working, so they can spend the rest of their lives playing golf, going on cruises, and of course setting aside Election Day to be sure and vote Democrat….so their gravy train continues unabated. This can’t go on. It is unsustainable.

The answer is our future and our children’s future has been damaged, if not outright destroyed, by big government politicians of both parties- both nationally and here in Nevada.

Obama “solved” the fiscal cliff crisis…which was a debt crisis…by ADDING $4 trillion in new debt. In Nevada we aren’t too different. Gov Sandoval allows a “temporary” tax to be renewed…meaning we solve our crisis by asking taxpayers who are hurting to pay more. This will not work. More Nevada small businesses will go out of business. More Nevada jobs will be lost.

And where do these tax increases go? Look no further than the federal level. Obama claimed we desperately needed to raise taxes on “the rich” to prevent the so-called “fiscal cliff”…but then instead of using it to pay down the debt…he redistributed $40 billion to the biggest corporations and lobbyists in the world. Pure theft. Small business was robbed to pay for tax credits for Hollywood film producers and NASCAR owners…and companies in American Somoa…and rum companies in Puerto Rico and companies located on Indian Reservations…all of whom made big contributions to Obama. This was the greatest theft since Bernie Madoff.

And in Nevada, more of the same thinking…

Here’s a list of three recent tax hikes that appeared on the ballot just this past November, as well as a bountiful list of new ones being mulled for 2013, courtesy of my good friend and taxpayer advocate Chuck Muth:

• Henderson Library District sought a property tax increase (voters rejected overwhelmingly)
• Clark County School District sought a property tax increase (voters rejected overwhelmingly)
• Carson City Library District sought a sales tax increase (voters rejected overwhelmingly)
• Elko is raising its gasoline tax
• Nevada is raising its unemployment tax on employers
• Gov. Sandoval is seeking a sales tax increase
• Gov. Sandoval is seeking a business license fee/tax increase
• Gov. Sandoval is seeking an increase in the “employee head” tax
• Gov. Sandoval is seeking an increase in vehicle registration fees
• The teachers and other unions are seeking a new income tax on businesses
• Clark County Commissioner Tom Collins wants to “raise the damn property tax”
• Clark County Commissioner Chris Giunchigliani wants a property tax hike for more funding for UMC
• Las Vegas City Councilman Steve Ross has suggested a new tax on services
• Las Vegas Mayor Carolyn Goodman has proposed a new $5-per-person annual “recovery” tax
• Mineral County Commissioner Cliff Cichowlaz has called for a state income tax…and a tattoo tax!
• Las Vegas’ Metropolitan Police Department is seeking a sales tax increase
• A Clark County Health District lawsuit could force a property tax increase
• Washoe County wants a rental car tax increase for its baseball stadium
• UNLV may seek a room tax increase to build a new mega-events center

Nevada is headed down the same destructive path as Greece…or worse…California.

In response to massive tax increases, Californians are escaping and racing with their incomes and assets to Nevada. But after we emulate California, where will they be racing to next?

That’s the state of the Nevada union. The politicians will lie to us and tell us a recovery is just around the corner. But their very policies and actions are making things worse by the day. There will be no recovery if we continue down this path of big taxes, big spending and biger is better government.

Their never-ending tax and spend solutions will discourage investors, punish business owners, lower economic growth, and kill jobs.

The reality is state of our union and state of Nevada is a disaster. It’s time someone told you the truth.

I see only one prescription- in the next election VETO every single one of the politicians…V.E.T.O. stands for Vote Everyone of Them Out.

Because if we don’t stop them…the politicians will destroy us….destroy this great state of Nevada…and the great American Dream. America will be just another failed social welfare state. And Nevada-= just another bankrupt version of California…except with deseert instead of beaches and ocean. Tell me who will come here if our economy and taxes are the same as California? The truth is…no one. Our advantage is capitalism…our low taxes. Our limited government. That’s it. That’s what we have that sets us apart from the crowd. That’s our ace in the hole. And it worked for 25 straight years of leading the nation in population growth. And in total 7 decades of being #1 in population growth.

It’s time to act now…it’s crisis time…it’s time to draw a line in the sand before progressive politicians of both parties destroy everything we hold dear…everything great about Nevada and America…

God, family, country, capitalism, entrepreneurship, small business, personal responsibility, economic and personal freedom, independence, and American exceptionalism.

It’s time to fight…or we lose America….and this refuge in a sea of madness called Nevada. This low tax state is the last great hope for capitalism. Let’s fight to keep it that way.

Good night.