Legislators from both parties are whining and gnashing their teeth about how proposed budget cuts will be “devastating” to “essential” government programs. Well, take a gander at what your tax dollars just funded, courtesy of Cy Ryan of the Las Vegas Sun. According to Ryan’s report, the Nevada Commission on Cultural Affairs just awarded $3 million in grants, including:
* $300,000 for the so-called “Mob Museum” in Las Vegas
* $200,000 for a museum of neon signs
* $120,000 to restore an adobe house from the 1850s
* $108,000 to buy four 19th century railroad cottages
* $125,000 to restore the roof of a Pioche courthouse built in 1873
Essential? We need to raise taxes for THIS? These projects are more important than textbooks for students, inoculations for children, medications for senior citizens, food and housing for the poor, drug rehab programs, etc.?
Not one dime more. Not until the Legislature strips out every last cent of non-essential BS like this should taxpayers be asked to pony up higher taxes of any kind on anyone.
