(Michael Chamberlain/Nevada Business Coalition) – If ever those who wish to contain the growth of government thought that the members of the media or the political left respected their views, please let the headline on this article in the Las Vegas Sun serve to correct that faulty notion. If you don’t support continued growth of government you will be dismissed as an extremist.
“Anti-tax zealots.” Tomorrow we expect to see a headline about “pro-tax zealots.” Okay, not really.
Writers at the Sun do not provide their own headlines, that is the job of an editor. The article itself is actually a fairly good discussion of the Taxpayer Protection Pledge and the nuances of belief among those who have signed the Pledge and others who oppose raising taxes. The author, Anjeanette Damon, included some very good quotes and displayed the non-homogeneous nature of those on what has erroneously been described as the “no new taxes” side of the debate. For instance,
[Senator Michael Roberson] has proposed a mining tax increase in conjunction with a decrease in car registration fees.
Or, take service providers such as hairdressers and accountants. Some lawmakers are discussing applying the sales tax to services while lowering its rate so the revenue collected remains the same.
Others have talked about eliminating the payroll tax and replacing it with a services tax.
Some assert they will oppose any tax increases, regardless of whether they are coupled with offsetting reductions or not. They are rightly skeptical of the ability of tax increase proponents to restrain themselves, as are most of us.
This is a worthy debate to be having. A discussion of the long-term impacts of various tax proposals and the state’s overall tax structure will be necessary at some point. But expect big-government politicians and their media allies to try to dismiss, ignore and denigrate these voices of rationality.
(Michael Chamberlain is Executive Director of Nevada Business Coalition.)
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