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twitterNevada needs a superhero
Lawmakers seek a consultant to scrutinize state’s tax structure and save Nevada
Chris Morris
Thursday, Aug. 27, 2009 | 2 a.m.
Senate Majority Leader Steven Horsford
Bill Raggio
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Carson City — Legislators have embarked on an ambitious endeavor — find someone who can figure out how to save Nevada.
Lawmakers have issued a request for a consultant who will analyze the state’s tax structure, measure the public’s willingness to accept a broader tax base and examine the balance between local and state revenue.
It’s an exercise state leaders repeat every couple of decades and one that has rarely resulted in radical change in how Nevada raises tax revenue. But legislators insist this study will be different because the mission will go beyond the state’s finances and include finding ways to improve Nevada’s dismal rankings in quality-of-life measures such as health care, education, public safety and job creation.
“We need a vision and strategic plan for what kind of state we want this to be,” Senate Majority Leader Steven Horsford said.
The consultant will be asked to compile and analyze Nevada’s rankings in a host of quality-of-life areas, plan ways to advance Nevada’s standing in those measures and set goals for progress in 5-year, 10-year and 20-year increments.
The consultant will work with a group of “vision stakeholders,” who will be appointed by a legislative subcommittee.
The Interim Finance Committee approved final language for proposals from consultants this week. The contract will run from Dec. 1 through Oct. 1, including a report to the committee by July 1.
The study, and its anticipated recommendations on taxes, is likely to shape the political debate through the next legislative session. The proposal soliciting bids instructs the consultant to study how taxes are allocated between the state and local government and to analyze the relative stability of revenue.
The Legislature passed about $1 billion in new taxes to meet the budget shortfall over the next two years. But most of the new taxes will sunset in 2011, when the Legislature next meets.
Horsford said that with the new taxes scheduled to sunset and no federal stimulus to cushion the upcoming budget, legislators will confront a $2 billion shortfall.
“We must show leadership and we have a moral responsibility to come prepared with a plan,” Horsford said.
Senate Minority Leader Bill Raggio, R-Reno, has said the state needs a third-party, unbiased study.
Democratic leadership and some business allies — led by the gaming industry — are expected to push next session to broaden the state’s tax structure, which critics say is overly reliant on sales and gaming taxes.
Horsford tried unsuccessfully last session to push for some kind of corporate income tax. He won’t commit to supporting any one idea at this point, but he said the need to change the tax system is evident.
“We absolutely have to fundamentally change our revenue structure to have one that works, in good economic times and bad economic times,” Horsford said.
Raggio has emphasized the need to look at property tax revenue, which mostly goes to local governments, a sign that the state is likely to once again raid local government coffers.
The ambition of the consultant’s mission has some voicing skepticism over whether anyone will be willing to take the job. Though legislators did not mention a dollar figure, earlier estimates were that $500,000 should be set aside for the study.
“Given the breadth of the charge, not only looking at the revenue side but looking at Nevada’s quality of life, I don’t know if that can be done in six months,” said Sen. Randolph Townsend, R-Reno. “I’m very skeptical anyone will be willing to take it on for that amount of money in that short of time. But we’re going to give it a try.”
He noted that past studies of the state’s tax structure have a consistent theme: The state is too reliant on sales and gaming taxes, which can be volatile.
“I’d be surprised if those themes were different in any new studies,” he said.
Townsend, who because of term limits has served in his last legislative session, said, “there are significant challenges for the next group, perhaps the most I’ve seen in 30 years.”
Discussion: 31 comments so far…
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Locally owned and independent for more than 50 years.
I can save the state a lot of money and tell you right now: don't bother.
The citizens of Nevada will not accept any sort of state income tax and the business community will not put up with any sort of higher tax.
Any politician who votes for either will be ending his/her political career. And if it's ever put on the ballot, it will lose by about a 95-5 margin.
Now, you can send me half the money you were going to pay the consultant. Easy, peasy.
It's time for Nevada to implement a tax structure that sends people who don't want to pay taxes at all, or reasonable and fair increases, to other places outside Nevada.
Persons who exit Nevada will discover they are responsible for even higher tax bills abroad. Their verbal bluster, and their one vote, will change nothing in such places where citizens are raising children right, preparing them for college and careers, and take family life, with all it's costs, seriously. Only rural, detached poor areas of the country offer the blusterers the comforts they seek.
"Something for nothing" does not exist in society long, even Nevada. Everyone must put an apple in the pie. Living in remote desert tents without AC and water is not an option, even for the most conservative of citizens.
Nevadans ARE NOT fiscally conservative in spending.
Personal savings rates per capita are poor. The state leads the nation in credit card defaults. Many locals spend-gamble-entertain more per capital, not good.
Further, one illness-accident within Nevada's poor healthcare offerings and subsequent poorly funded support nets can wipe out years of savings from work and more for the responsible citizen, in a short time. Illness and injury can quickly become roulette for Nevada residents.
Hospitality is labor intensive, and while some jobs pay well, or very well, many do not. Such jobs are not treated as careers, either by the employee or employer. That's a big, big problem, boosting in-out resident transience. Hospitality corporations cannot manufacture-pretend boutique service successfully to customers when they do not adequately take care of their own employees, from hiring-training to L-T loyalty. Lighten up.
People should be hired and trained with the idea they want to stay and grow in hospitality. EVERY job should be applauded.
Nobody raising children in other states is looking to move to Nevada, not for any job. That's a problem in creating job diversity for higher skilled-higher pay jobs, resulting from a myriad of causal problems, starting with crime and in your face adult marketing, onward to education outcomes.
Let the new inheritors and trust fund baby gaming customers go to the Internet for adult information, keep it off billboards on interstates and airport streets. Tone it down, in media and night clubs. Without the "average" customer, you don't have revpar insurance. Without money, the attractive ladies-bait leave. Their loyalty to "place" is slim and none.
Education outcome can be remedied quickly, from within the home and in the classroom, if teachers and parents work together for the benefit of the child.
Healthcare can be greatly improved inside Nevada with a public option, in national healthcare reform.
Raising additional tax funds is one necessary part of the solution.
Any tax choices need respected leadership to implement. Without great leadership, Nevada has nothing of promise.
If the people don't want to become like stagnant high taxed California they better stop electing legislators from the party that made California the Third World sewer it is.
Nevada is a one industry state, and therefore the Gaming Companies must pay their 'fair' share in the way of gaming taxes. Compare the effective tax rate paid in Nevada by Gaming to what Gaming pays in other states. These are tough economic times, and we have few options. We cannot over-tax the visitors, otherwise they will stop coming. Gaming must step up; they elect the officials, and then the officials do what Gaming wants...so, we must convince the Gaming companies to do the right thing and not be carpetbaggers.
Why do these elected officials need to hire an outside consultant to come in at taxpayer expense and figure things out? Isn't this why they were elected in the first place?
NotCaliman
A superhero? Nevada needs hard working officials first!!!
First and foremost, what Nevada needs are leaders who can stand up and do the right thing. Put your state and community first. There are really only two industries of substance here - mining and gaming. Those are the two industries that contribute the most Nevada political campaigns.
With effective leaders, we can decide what we want to be when we grow up. Do we want to be a fully-functioning state with a solid infrastructure, good schools and a workable safety net or do we want to do the bare minimum? From there, you decide the revenue structure you want. There are still plenty of ways we can build an equitable revenue structure and still look like a bargain compared to our neighbors to the West.
Correction, serious: Nevada is a TWO industry state, mining by foreign corporations being the other. To the tune of about $5 billion each year out of which the state ends up with almost as much as Harry Ried, John Ensign, and Jim Gibbons does.
These are finite resources which are just going to other countries while Horsford and the others think property taxes should be increased?
An independent study, if genuinely independent of political influences & special interests, is probably worthwhile since it's obvious that our elected politicians are not up to the task. To help pay for it though, I suggest we cut the salary & office expenses of each by 50% and use that money -- we're clearly not getting our money's worth with them, might as well use it for something productive!
Before this "superhero" begins, I'd remind them that many Nevadans believe the following:
1) I love government services that benefit me personally. Spending on such services should be maintained or increased.
2) I HATE government services that benefit someone else (or that I don't realize benefit me personally). Reduce or eliminate spending on these services.
3) Make someone else pay for Nos. 1 and 2.
If you can sell a complete overhaul of our current taxation system to a state where such beliefs hold supermajority status, then you truly deserve to be called a superhero.
yup, what we need is an idiot to come along and create the tax and spending mess that california is in...raise taxes....spend! spend! spend!! Issue IOUs...NICE!!!
a stupid thought and practice is to provide all the medical, foodstamps and welfare for all the illegals and then sit there using your thumb as a suppository and try to figure out why we are so deep in debt.....
people that do not pay taxes...illegal aliens...but they reap all the benefits and do not repay a thing....look at UMC...send them home...
cut taxes on businesses and just maybe you will get some growth back...cut costs and make the departments of the governments work with a budget that there is money to support.....no more borrowing....
oh yeah....at one time southern nevada was the fastest growing area in the country and now that the unemployment rate, foreclosures and the economic blight has hit nevada, people are leaving....
if you do not like the living that nevada once provided, go back to california or where ever to pursue your dreams...help those areas go deeper into the hole....
With the polititions in place now,Nv will never see any recovery!
Superhero's are crime fighting agents of change. You know Truth, Justice and the American way! I have never heard of a Superhero accountant...have you?
We need a crime fighting Superhero more than ever to clean up the multi-layered corruption that plagues our City, County and State.
The problems we face will continue until we start to see high ranking public officials indicted and marched in front of the cameras on the way to jail in chains.
Without a Crime Fighting Superhero who is the deterrent to stop our Public Service and Political figures from looting a pillaging the whole State???
The Nevada Attorney General just throws up her hands and says 'Uncle' instead of forming Grand Juries to investigate corrupt officials. Apparently she does not have any desire to be a Wonder Woman.
No candidates for Batman or even Robin in our District Attorneys office either... They are going to have to budget for some bull dozers to to keep the layers of corruption under the carpets...
The only Superhero your going to find is The Underdog aka We The People.
When The Underdog starts demanding full disclosure, Truth, Justice and accountability, we will see change!
We can eliminate many state positions without degrading public service. There are too many so called Captains, Lieutenants, and so on in the Dept of Public Safety for instance. This could be streamlined. There is too much waste in state government spending - not in the big ticket bid projects - most in the small dollars and cents, day to day operations. The Casinos are and always have been in charge here. I doubt if someone were to actually stand up to them and mean it that Casinos would or could do anything - their threats are veiled, they are in too deep. Start cleaning from the top down in State spending.
"rumrunner," you are absolutely right....they are too far to the left and only believe in tax and spend...more taxes equals more spending.....
tax gambling and the rooms more and i guarantee that the tourists will stay away longer...
after all gaming drops every month....so when that dries up what next horsford....maybe you will move to california and see if the lot of you can help to destroy california even more...
IT IS NOT THE TAX STRUCTURE!!!! IT IS THE EXPENSE STRUCTURE THAT KEEPS DRAGGING US DOWN...i.e., UMC IS IN THE RED MILLIONS AND MILLIONS OF DOLLARS FOR THE FREE DIALYSIS THAT THEy GIVE AWAY TO THE ILLEGALS....
Cure that problem and all the others like it and we will have a solid tax base again....
Simple solution send the illegals packing, cut off aid, no more freebies!!!!
Superhero: Governor Brian Edward Sandoval
Nevada's tax "problems" revealed here: http://npri.org/publications/legislature...
As for quality of life issues most of those are affected by personal choices and we can't outlaw non violent voluntary behavior. Education problems can't be solved with spending more money either. And you can't diversify an economy by raising taxes on the people you want to move in.
The answer isn't to increase taxes or to broaden taxes but to decrease taxes and spending and get the government to start spending smarter and wiser.
Democrats want to raise taxes??????
No way......
"We absolutely have to fundamentally change our revenue structure to have one that works, in good economic times and bad economic times," Horsford said." Wrong! We need to fundamentally change our expense structure to have one that we can afford, in good economic times and bad economic times. The Legislature needs to do that now, BEFORE they look for ways to slip a tax increase by the public.
The problem is easily solved. Just do the Cali solution:
"In addition to the income tax rate rising 0.25%, the dependent credit was slashed by more than two-thirds. The vehicle license fee nearly doubled to 1.15% of a car's value. The state sales tax climbed 1%".
When our income taxes are around 8%, and our sales taxes are around 8.75 to 9.25%, all of our problems will be solved.
For 2 years. Pitiful.
Nevada is already a failed state. The chances of it becoming a real state of the United States range from slim to none. Not only are the state and many local governments near bankruptcy, so is there a kind of intellectual bankruptcy that is produced by putting the same people in the same room asking the same questions and ignoring reasonable answers. The Raggios, Dinis, the Townsends, the Ganserts, they're all living for their own political lives...not the REAL lives of Nevadans. The bubble shared by REAL Nevadans has already popped. Their's has yet to even show signs of stretching. But pop it will and maybe we'll get some answers and solutions to what has troubled Nevada for decades...investing in a civilized state that is attractive to new and creative next generation businesses, a family friendly education system, and an emergence of better support for arts and cultural elements to enrich our daily lives. Without that, it's just another place to dump nuclear waste.
start exporting SOLAR POWER to the continental USA and charge a surtax. make this entity autonomous and separate from state government and enact two year elections. do not let the governor and state legislature have any responsibility toward this new project.
Nevada could spur economic growth if it cut corporate and personal income taxes so that they're lower than in other states. Oh, wait...
Gamblers in the South have Biloxi and Riverboats now. Native Americans have been pretty wise in undercutting NV's old time source of dough.
It'll never be like it was.
Selling solar doesn't have a chance. Solar falls all over. Making juice and sending it down the wire is kinda dumb because ya waste 20% in the wire.
It'd be better for everyone to raise our brain power a little bit and stop wasting everything we can get our grubby little childish hands on.
The chances of increasing funding for education in a state like this one that has no respect for learning? miniscule.
The future? Hot, dry and dim. Unless you want some great tattoos, like to get drunk, watch skanky babes try the hooker thing or just want to dump your cash in the casinos.
Name one resource NV has.
Governor Schwartzenegger was going to be the Supper Hero for California a few years ago as the new "Governator", and he is a very good man trying very hard to learn more about the important issues effecting California. He is not extreme in political doctrine, and willing to listen to most comers.
California has spent a lot of public money in recent years, but they also has a lot of things that need money spent on. The state has taken on a lot of people, for a lot of new service jobs that quickly go away in recessions.
California has the brain power to rethink their recent past, and will adjust and move forward with what works better.
Nevada needs leadership much more than California. There are more entrenched shackles to shake loose from in historical beliefs about government and "getting things right". The problems in Carson City, and Las Vegas, are very small in scale relative to California, but much more deeply rooted because Nevada has failed to recognize the "road to now" in years past.
What a novel idea. RAISE TAXES. Why didn't anyone think of that before?
Come on Citizens of Nevada, you have had a good run, paying little or no state taxes, relying on visitors to fund your states outgoings, what a sham, getting visitors to pay for your existance.
The only way to solve the problem is to have a serious state tax and a serious sales tax, both to be in the double digits.
Dont follow the path that California took under the leadership of that "so called" Gov. That man is still living in the movie world
The state of Nevada has the tax revenue just sitting in their backyard and they are not even using it to the potential that it has.
"SUPERHERO" dont even waste your time !!!
Build Yucca Mountain Project and more federal tax dollars than can be imagined will flow into this state, forever and ever.
Why your at it build a couple of nuclear power generating plants and sell the energy back to the rest of the united states.
How about eliminating a layer of government? Why do we need State, County and City?
Eliminate city governments since the county is running most of the services (schools, fire, etc.).