Letter: Need for more taxes obvious, except to GOP

Friday, Feb. 7, 2003 | 5 a.m.

I'd like to remind the good people of Nevada that it is an article of faith for conservatives, and many Republicans, that all government is wasteful. So even before Gov. Kenny Guinn, a former businessman and a man with a vision for what path Nevada should take in the future, began his State of the State speech -- laying out the fiscal problems facing the state and the need for additional taxes to manage them -- these people we're shaking their heads no.

These are the same people who refuse to adequately fund our public schools (Nevada is well below the national average in per-pupil expenditures), but then complain bitterly if some of these schools do not perform up to their exacting standards. Now when Nevada is facing real financial problems, they are refusing to pay a few dollars more in taxes just to maintain the level of support we already have, and are shrieking in horror over the additional programs Gov. Guinn has proposed.

So what kind of a state do you want to live in? A Nevada, as Gov. Guinn proposes, that will try to provide for the needs of its citizens, or an uncaring, barebones operation that will please no one. The tax increases that our governor asks for are not great, but the benefits would be substantial. Please contact your legislators, and ask them to support the governor's proposal.

RICHARD J. MUNDY