Where I stand—Brian Greenspun: We need tax hike now

Tuesday, May 8, 2001 | 9:27 a.m.

Brian Greenspun is editor of the Las Vegas Sun.

ROME WASN'T built in a day. That's because good things take time.

It is now time for the Nevada Legislature to do some good things, and there's no excuse because there is close to a full month for the lawmakers to complete the job.

The job, of course, is to address the incredible funding needs that this state has over the next few years and to do so in a way that makes good fiscal and common sense. The challenge is that legislators and other elected officials seem constrained by something called political sense which, as it has usually done in the past, may gum up the works.

When Gov. Kenny Guinn opined last week that with only a few weeks left in the session the idea of raising revenues -- read that taxes -- may be problematic, he did so with the knowledge that something dramatic has to be done, and soon, lest the state find itself in a hole dug too deep for an easy climb out.

Knowing how the governor works, he may be well ahead of the rest of us in terms of cobbling together a solution that will help ease our financial woes. But assuming he hasn't been able to deal with this particular fire yet, there is no time like the present to stick in a few cents' worth of advice.

First of all, is Sen. Mark James the only legislator in Carson City who appears to understand the trouble we are having, or are there plenty of others who know the score but are afraid to speak out? I suspect the answer is the latter which, believe it or not, is perfectly understandable in today's world.

Mind you, I didn't say theirs is acceptable behavior -- just that I understand the pressures they are feeling when it comes to talking about raising new revenues in this state. People in elected office usually like their jobs and tend to do little to upset those who decide from time to time whether they get to keep them.

Put another way, as long as the voters have a "throw the bums out" attitude about any politician who suggests a tax increase, for whatever reason, it is highly unlikely that we will see many public advocates for doing what needs to get done.

And therein lies the rub. We have the great and unequaled pleasure to live in the fastest-growing state in the Union with a quality of life that is virtually unmatchable. We have a low cost of living, a growing economy and a pro-business attitude that seems certain to continue the growth spurt that has maintained us at or near the top of the heap for the past few decades.

We also, unfortunately, have succumbed to that which is ailing communities across the country -- a malaise of riches that ignores the fact that there is a connection between a better life and the money needed to pay for it.

For whatever reasons, most of which are too numerous and too ridiculous to mention, we have turned from a nation that helps its neighbor to one that hurts him, especially if it helps us. Put another way, there are many in society who believe that it is easier to climb atop the next guy than it is to climb to the top with the next guy.

That attitude has fostered an anti-tax, anti-social type of reaction to any suggestion that smacks of government or other long-standing institutions whose job it has been to make life better for those in society. As an aside, that attitude is made worse when there are media outlets that constantly preach to the worst of our instincts rather than the best of them.

All of this manifests itself in a political class that is so afraid of its shadow that on issues of any controversy, it seems safer to take a duck rather than to take a stab at finding a solution. Elected officials are led to believe -- and not without good reason -- that to advocate higher taxes or more government involvement is the surest way to defeat come the next election. And I say that kind of thinking must stop.

For how can the fastest growing state in the country be at the bottom in almost all things social -- from school funding to school books, from health care to a healthy environment with clean air and clean water? Why are we always among the leaders in school dropouts, teen pregnancies, teen suicides and smoking- and drinking-related deaths? And how can we allow stories to come out of our Legislature that talk of cutting needed services just because shortfalls are projected?

We need leadership on these issues to be sure. But we also need an electorate with enough sense to understand that the good life is not free, and that those who expect free can't give us a good life.

Rome wasn't built in a day, but I am quite certain that those ancients could have done one helluva job if they had a month to get it done. Should we expect less from our Romans in Carson City?