The loudest shrieking from the Left over Gov. Gibbons’ proposed budget is over how they claim it will destroy higher education, short-change lower education and….kill people. No, seriously. Democrat Assembly Speaker Barbara Buckley actually said we have to raise taxes or people will die.
But there is an alternative which addresses the above-listed concerns which relies on setting government spending priorities rather than raising taxes. The $5.1 billion Freedom Budget was proposed last week by the Nevada Policy Research Institute as an alternative to the Gibbons budget and is actually a billion dollars LESS and doesn’t include the huge room tax hike the governor proposed. Nor does it rely on any federal stimulus money. In addition….
“In spite of this dramatic cost savings, the Freedom Budget is able to restore more than $85 million to Human Services in order to care for the mentally ill, indigents and the severely disabled. In addition, this budget restores more than $176 million to the Nevada System of Higher Education and entirely avoids operating reductions at the state’s regional colleges. Nearly $80 million is restored to the Department of Education in order to finance the purchase of learning materials with which to educate Nevada’s children.”
So we don’t need to raise taxes to pay for government’s truly essential services. All the Legislature needs to do is pass the Freedom Budget. Read the details HERE
A balanced budget at five point one; so let it be written, so let it be done.
