I’m Already Saying No – My Opponent’s Silence is Deafening
I've spent this campaign trying to give State Senate District 8 voters something simple: a straight answer on where I stand. So let me give you another one now.
This week, a coalition of anti-tobacco groups asked Nevada lawmakers to nearly double the state cigarette tax, from $1.80 to $3.55 a pack.
Pair that with a matching hike on vapes and other tobacco products, and supporters say it could raise $66 million a year for the state.
I'm against it.
I signed the Taxpayer Protection Pledge because I believe Nevada families deserve to know, in writing, that their senator won't vote to raise their taxes.
My opponent, Marilyn Dondero Loop, was asked to sign the same pledge. She refused.
That's not a small thing. It means she's left herself room to vote yes on this tax, or any tax that comes next.
I don't think Nevadans should have to take that chance. Look at what the Legislature's own fiscal analyst told lawmakers this week.
Michael Nakamoto said Nevada already tried this exact move twice, once in 2003 and again in 2015.
Both times, the tax brought in a quick burst of revenue, then bled out as smokers quit or drove to another state to buy cheaper cigarettes.
Nakamoto's own words: Nevada has already “given back the entirety of that tax increase from 2015.”
Even the Democrat chairing the committee, Sen. Dina Neal, called this plan “a fiscal cliff.”
She admitted the state doesn't have a real answer for what happens when the revenue disappears again.
That's not a Republican talking point. That's the committee chair, on the record, in her own words.
I also think about who actually pays this tax.
It's not corporations. It's working Nevadans, plenty of them right here in SD8, who'll be asked to hand over nearly double what they pay now every time they buy a pack.
And Nevada retailers are already warning that a $3.55 rate, compared to 57 cents next door in Idaho, is an invitation for smuggling that hurts the small businesses trying to follow the law.
This bill isn't law yet. It still needs a two-thirds vote in both the Senate and Assembly, and that's exactly why this election matters.
Every vote in Carson City counts, which means every candidate's answer on taxes counts too.
I gave you mine in writing before I ever asked for your vote. My opponent still hasn't given you hers.
SD8, you deserve a senator who tells you where she stands before the roll call, not after. That's the difference in this race.
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