(Tyler Andrews) – The government in my home state of California helped drive the economy into the ground through rampant spending and a lack of fiscal restraint. Like thousands of others, I escaped the creeping reach of “Golden Statism” and headed into the vibrant job market of Las Vegas.
In recent years I’ve watched the great state of Nevada ignore its libertarian roots and begin to follow our broke neighbor to the west down the path of fiscal insanity. As a Nevadan who believes in the power of free markets and individual liberty, I can’t continue to sit back and watch this happen. That’s why I’m running for Assembly.
It’s no secret that our growing deficits and mounting unfunded liabilities will eventually break the State’s financial future. But before we can reverse course, we need to correctly identify the cause of our budget shortfalls — something Carson City has so far refused to do.
Our problem stems from over spending, not from lack of revenue. In fact, if Nevada’s general fund spending increases would have held steady at population growth plus inflation over the past decade, we would now have a multi-million dollar surplus rather than a massive deficit —even taking into account the current housing bust and recession.
Despite this fact, our current Assembly is planning on introducing comprehensive “revenue reform” – simply a code word for more taxes, more fee increases, and even more burdensome regulations. Fiscal policy analyst Geoffrey Lawrence of NPRI correctly noted that the legislature’s current plans for “reform” are “less rooted in concern for tax equity or stability and more the result of a simple desire for additional loot.” Not exactly the smartest policy in the middle of a national recession.
Even worse, our tax-happy legislators will likely create lower revenues through their proposed money grabs such as the “broad based business tax.” Potential businesses will be reluctant to relocate here, and existing businesses will start to abandon ship. Jobs will become even fewer, Nevadans will be less free, and our economy will get even worse.
So how do we stop it?
1. We need to identify the state’s fiscal problems correctly and stop any efforts to raise taxes on our already over-burdened citizens and businesses.
2. We need to stop “baseline budgeting,” which simply rolls over the entire bloated budget from one session to the next without any oversight or reform. Priority-Based Budgeting is a market-based alternative that has proven results in state and local governments across the country.
3. We need to focus on restoring individual liberty to Nevadans and stop meddling with social issues and other non-essential legislation that curtails freedom and distracts from the real problem at hand — the economy.
It won’t be easy, but Nevada’s fired-up grassroots base of fiscal conservative voters can help bring solid and lasting change to the Battle Born State. The first mission begins on November 2nd.
(Tyler Andrews is the Republican candidate for Assembly District 10. For more information, contact Tyler at tyler@andrewsforassembly.com. You can visit his website and donate to his campaign at www.andrewsforassembly.com)
Facebook
Twitter
Pinterest
RSS