More money won’t fix a broken system

(Michele Fiore) – This week the Nevada legislature heard more details about the Governor’s proposed business license fee structure. Senate Bill 252 was discussed in a joint meeting of the Assembly Taxation Committee and the Senate Committee on Revenue and Economic Development. This bill proposes adjusting the state business license fee in hopes of generating $400 million a year.

We’ve been told the majority of this revenue would be directed to education, particularly building new schools. This is not the first time a tax increase has been sold to taxpayers by saying the money would go to education. Just a few years ago our casino industry agreed to increase room taxes to fund education; the taxes went up, and the money didn’t go to education. Now the Governor is proposing another tax increase with the same promise of funding education while the money will actually go into the general fund and not directly to our schools. This is a bad idea, bad for business, and I do not support SB252.

Tomorrow we’ll also be talking about this and other ways we can improve Nevada’s education system without harming Nevada’s job creators on “Walk the Talk with Michele Fiore”. This week’s special guests include Assemblywoman Shelly Shelton, Assemblyman David Gardner and Assemblyman Brent Jones to talk about the facts surrounding SB 252, and their ideas for our education system.

Assemblywoman Shelton has experience with both the public school and the homeschooling systems. She has been homeschooling her daughter since the second grade and has seen first-hand the benefits. Assemblyman Gardner will tell us about his proposed opportunity scholarships and Assemblyman Jones is going to share some startling statistics on common core.

Nevadans are lucky to have these three knowledgeable legislators in the Assembly. Their innovative ideas are what we need, not tax increases that the voters oppose so we can throw more money at our problem schools.

There will be more hearings on the Governor’s tax plan, and this is a bill we need to watch closely. We need innovative solutions to reform our education system, not unlimited spending funded by Nevada’s struggling businesses.

I hope you’ll join us tomorrow for this important episode of “Walk the Talk with Michele Fiore” to learn more. Join us from 9am to 10am on KDWN 720am or www.VoteFiore.com.

Assemblywoman Michele Fiore represents Clark County Assembly District 4 (Las Vegas) and was reelected to her 2nd term in 2014. Fiore has lived in Nevada since 1993. For more information about her, please visit www.VoteFiore.com.