Senate Republicans in the Nevada Legislature passed the third largest tax hike in the state’s history today, approving a 3 percent increase in the room tax in Clark and parts of Washoe counties which the Assembly already passed a couple weeks ago. Why is this a Republican tax hike even though Democrats control the Senate and every Democrat voted for it?
Because Republicans could have stopped it.
They just chose not to.
Because of the state’s 2/3 tax restraint law, Democrats needed two Republicans to pass the room tax increase.
They got four.
Republican Senate Minority Leader Bill Raggio voted for the third largest tax hike in Nevada history.
What’s most outrageous about Sen. Raggio’s vote is that he promised Republican primary voters last summer that he would do no such thing. “This is not the time to start talking about raising taxes,” Sen. Raggio told the Reno Gazette-Journal. “It is something that we can’t even consider.”
At least not until the election was over, right Senator?
Sen. Raggio also made this seemingly iron-clad promise to GOP primary voter Bob Kinnaman: “I’m not going to raise taxes, I can guarantee you that.”
Mr. Kinnaman might want to check the fine print of that “guarantee.”
Also, during the floor debate on the bill Sen. Raggio pretty much flipped the GOP the bird, saying, “My first responsibility is not to my party, but as an American, to my state. My concern is the survival of this state. We need to provide essential services.”
Essential services, huh? You mean like the Nevada Beef Council? The Department of Cultural Affairs? The Office of Diversity and Inclusion at the Nevada System of Higher Education? Cost-inflating organized labor subsidies? Retirement and health care benefits for government workers which most taxpayers can only dream about? The Culture of Pizza course at UNLV? Those essential services, Senator?
Joining the Minority Leader in voting for the third largest tax hike in Nevada history were Republican Sens. Randolph Townsend, Dean Rhoads and Dennis “The Menace” Nolan. Not surprisingly, none of the four has signed the Taxpayer Protection Pledge and all four voted for the largest tax increase in the state’s history back in 2003.
Methinks it’s time for grassroots Republicans to take some of these tax-happy GOP legislators to the woodshed.
