The Economic Forum will meet tomorrow and tell legislators how much money they’ll have to work with in passing a budget for the next two years. It’s expected that projected revenue will be lower, meaning the government will need to do a little more tightening of the belt. Unless, of course, they insanely decide to raise taxes instead. Which is exactly what a number of legislators intend to do.
Democrat Assembly Majority Leader John Oceguera declared yesterday that there’s nothing left to cut in the budget – including, by definition, the Vice President of Diversity and Inclusion at UNLV, not to mention the Nevada Arts Council and the entire Department of Cultural Affairs – and “the only other alternative is to try to figure out where we can get revenue.”
Democrat Senate Majority Leader Steven Horsford said yesterday that “we have to raise $600 to $700 million of new revenue.” The Majority Leader said he wants to do that by implementing a new corporate income tax on businesses which are already hurting and laying people off and/or imposing a “service” tax on things such as haircuts, dry cleaning and automobile repair.
And, unbelievably, REPUBLICAN Assemblyman Pete Goicoechea is pushing for a sales tax hike on people who have lost their jobs, lost their homes and lost much of their life’s savings…..leading one to think the rural assemblyman has lost his marbles.
“I think (raising the sales tax) is the least onerous,” Goicoechea told the Associated Press. “It’s broad based and everyone has to pay it. That’s why I support it.”
Somebody test that man for swine flu. Or mad cow.
