Editorial: Growth carries a lesson

Friday, Dec. 28, 2007 | 7:18 a.m.

Now that we have reclaimed our status as residents of the fastest-growing state in the country, we should begin acting that way. For starters, we should begin demanding that our governor, Jim Gibbons, recognize that growth has never paid for itself here. The taxes that new residents pay are not enough to cover the services they require - and demand.

So while it is momentarily exciting to know our state is again the No. 1 destination for people on the move, the excitement quickly gives way to concern about how that growth will affect the quality of life here.

The news of our leading growth rate came by way of the year-end census report, released Thursday The report revealed how the housing slump is affecting the nation's high-growth states. More people are staying put, resulting in slower growth.

Nevada's growth is a prime example. Despite leading the nation with a 2.9 percent population increase, Nevada had its lowest increase this decade. We nudged No. 2 Arizona by just one-tenth of 1 percent - the same margin by which that state nudged us last year, knocking us out as the fastest-growing state for the first time in 20 years.

But whether we are No. 2 in growth with a 3.5 percent increase, as we were last year, or No. 1 with a 2.9 percent increase, the fact remains we are rapidly gaining population, and projections for the next several years show those gains continuing. In fact, our growth is projected to be enough by 2010 to earn us a fourth seat in the House of Representatives.

Even before Nevada began growing rapidly in the 1980s, the state's tax system was inadequate. Today, with people still moving here by the thousands every month, the tax system is simply broken.

Our almost total dependence on sales and gaming taxes has given us a $440 million deficit this fiscal year - so far. This has led Gibbons, a dedicated anti-tax Republican, to propose that nearly all state departments cut their already strained budgets by 4.5 percent.

Gibbons and the Legislature should set about fixing our broken tax system. Growth demands we move forward, not backward.