Editorial: Naysayers lose again

Thursday, May 13, 2004 | 8:42 a.m.

Last year the Nevada Supreme Court determined that the state constitutional requirement to adequately fund education overrode a competing constitutional provision that required tax increases to be passed by a two-thirds vote instead of a simple majority. Republican state legislators challenged the decision, but on Wednesday the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected the appeal, finding that the issue was now moot. That's because shortly after the Nevada Supreme Court's decision in 2003, the Legislature, facing a public outcry over the impasse on raising taxes to fund education, ultimately passed a tax increase with a two-thirds majority that balanced the state budget.

Many Republican legislators supported the final tax plan, but some in the party's right wing couldn't get over the fact that they lost, prompting the sour-grapes legal challenges, including one to the U.S. Supreme Court, which refused to hear the matter. It's a tough time for the anti-everything legislators. They've lost every legal case and must be embarrassed as the Nevada economy continues to get stronger after the passage of the largest tax increase in the state's history -- an increase they predicted would ruin the economy. It's time for the naysayers to get over it and move on.