Friday, August 27, 2010

Jon Ralson and the Budget

In Jon Ralston's column on the Rory Reid Budget proposal, he states,
This is a math problem, folks. For those who hated algebra, prepare to wince: You can change the variables to make the numbers work, but you can’t make both sides balance without a plus sign somewhere.

Don’t believe me: No one who really understands the state budget — past and current budget directors, knowledgeable lawmakers and private sector fiscal mavens — believes it can be balanced with cuts alone.


He then quotes Guy Hobbs as saying,
Essentially, cutting $3 billion from the state budget ... you’ve heard this comparison before ... if you funded just education alone, you could fund nothing else in the state budget.”

The problem is that any tax increases will hurt Nevada's economy which cannot withstand any more problems.

We are facing 2 large tax increases in the next few years. One is the tax increases that are Federal Tax Increases. That would be the increase in the marginal income tax rates, the possible return on the death tax, higher income taxes on marriage and family, capital gains tax increase, increased taxes on health care due to ObamaCare, and the The Alternative Minimum Tax and Employer Tax Hikes.

The second is the increased state tax increases. The next session of the Nevada State Legislature will be considering a state personal income tax, a corporate income tax, a sales tax increase, and other miscellaneous tax increases in a desperate effort to balance the budget.

It is time to take a stand. Once taxes are increased, they are seldom, if ever, reduced permanently. However, we can cut the budget and when the economy gets better; we can expand it as necessary and only as necessary.

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