Rhetoric versus reality

Thursday, Feb. 3, 2011 | 2:01 a.m.

Since the economic downturn, Nevadans have heard many politicians call for government to “live within its means,” “tighten its belt” and make “tough decisions.” Along with those empty platitudes came many shortsighted no-new-taxes pledges, including the one Republican Gov. Brian Sandoval made.

The rhetoric will meet the reality of the budget during the legislative session, which opens next week, and it won’t be pretty. Solving the state’s budget shortfall isn’t as simple as making a few cuts — it will mean significant budget cuts unless the Legislature raises taxes or fees.

The governor called for “shared sacrifice” to balance the budget, yet it seems to be anything but shared. One of his proposals to balance the state’s books is to shift the costs of a variety of services to counties. That would leave the counties to make the tough decisions on what to cut. Ironically, as Delen Goldberg reported in Wednesday’s Las Vegas Sun, the cities have largely escaped any of the pressure — so much for the “shared” sacrifice.

The governor’s budget merely pushes money around and pushes off the state’s problems for another day. That, sadly, is the classic approach to budgeting in Carson City, and if that’s the path lawmakers follow, it will be disastrous to the state and vital services, particularly education.

Republican leaders in the Senate and Assembly are lining up behind the governor. Although they are in the minority in the Legislature, Republicans will hold a significant voice in the debate. Because Nevada requires a two-thirds majority to pass any tax increase, Republicans will have enough votes in the Legislature to block any budget measure that uses revenue increases to reduce the cuts.

Senate Minority Leader Mike McGinness, R-Fallon, said the majority of his caucus supports Sandoval’s plan, citing the tough economy, even if they don’t necessarily like the severity of the cuts. “The budget cuts are too high,” he said. “No one likes to see them. But there are real tough, difficult choices.”

But Sen. Dean Rhoads, the dean of the Senate, is breaking ranks with his fellow Republicans. Like Sandoval, he wants to see a budget pass without tax increases, and says, “I hope he’s got a magic wand.” But after serving parts of four decades in the Legislature, Rhoads knows better.

“There will have to be deep cuts like Sandoval proposed, and tax and fee increases,” Rhoads told the Sun’s David McGrath Schwartz on Tuesday. “We’re going to have to do a combination.”

That is heresy for many conservatives, but Rhoads, a rancher who lives north of Elko, has impeccable conservative credentials and serves on the board of directors of the Nevada Taxpayers Association. After a long meeting in which mental health advocates warned of the consequences of budget reductions, Rhoads said that cuts alone would be too drastic.

“We’re basically taking wheelchairs from senior citizens,” he said.

That may sound far-fetched, but in prior rounds of budget cutting, lawmakers trimmed the number of adult diapers the state dispenses to needy seniors.

It’s ridiculous that the state has gotten to this point, but it’s a consequence of state leaders’ refusal over the years to fix the real problems underlying the state budget. No one has been able to muster the political will to fix the antiquated tax system, which allows many businesses to go virtually untaxed and doesn’t provide enough money to sustain a basic level of services. Recent rounds of budget cutting have only further eroded state services. If that is, in Republican eyes, a way for the state to “live within its means,” it’s a tragic shame.