You know what makes people angry? When they’re working harder than ever, cutting costs at home, and the government acts like it’s living in some rich uncle’s basement.
That’s where we are in Nevada.
Families are stretching every dollar. Small businesses are hanging on. But government? It’s still eating steak dinners on the taxpayers’ tab and asking for dessert.
The new DOGE Commission reports out of Washington just confirmed what we’ve known all along. Waste isn’t a glitch in government. It’s the business model.
Nevada can’t afford that anymore.
The Next Session Needs A Red Pen, Not New Taxes
Here’s the truth: If lawmakers in Carson City walk into the next session thinking they can raise taxes, they’re living on another planet. People can’t take one more hit.
Groceries cost more. Rent costs more. Power bills cost more. And if the price of anything has gone down lately, I must have missed it.
So what needs to go down?
Government spending. The stuff that has nothing to do with public safety, schools, or basic services. The stuff that sits in dusty corners of the budget like forgotten furniture.
Back when I served in the Assembly, I pushed the CONES Act. Cut Out Non-Essential Spending.
Simple name. Simple idea. If the state was willing to call private workers “non-essential” during the shutdown, then government should have to play by the same rules.
But instead, while workers were losing jobs, government payrolls stayed fat and happy. Agencies kept every pet project alive.
Nothing got trimmed. Not one office refrigerator got cleaned out.
Nevada can’t keep pretending the budget is carved in stone. It’s not. Most of it is soft as warm butter.
Nevada Doesn’t Have A Revenue Problem. It Has A Discipline Problem.
Let’s stop pretending the state is starving. Spending has climbed almost every session, long before inflation became a household word.
Yet families don’t feel one bit more secure or supported.
Better schools? Nope.
Safer neighborhoods? Ask folks in Vegas or Reno.
Lower costs? Don’t make me laugh.
Meanwhile, the DOGE Commission just uncovered billions in federal waste. Not millions. Billions.
And if D.C. can find that much money lying around like spare change under a couch cushion, imagine what we’d find in Nevada if we actually looked.
We’ve got programs nobody uses. Committees nobody remembers. Offices that produce reports nobody reads.
All funded by people who are juggling rent, gas, groceries, and the rising cost of just being alive.
Critics say you can’t fix everything with spending cuts. Fine.
But cutting waste sure makes life easier for the mom filling her tank or the retiree watching grocery prices jump again.
A Permanent Waste-Cutting Committee Is Long Overdue
Nevada tried this once with the SAGE Commission. They found smart, money-saving ideas.
Then lawmakers stuffed the report on a shelf and walked away like it never happened.
The federal government had something better. The old Byrd Committee.
They hunted waste year after year and saved taxpayers billions. They even had subpoena power so bureaucrats couldn’t hide the funny business.
Nevada should do the same.
A permanent CONES Committee with teeth. Real authority. Real transparency. And a mission simple enough to print on a bumper sticker.
Cut what isn’t essential. Protect what is.
If government spends less, families spend less. That’s how you make life affordable again.
Nevada doesn’t need more taxes. It needs a serious diet. And it needs leaders willing to say what regular folks already know.
Do less. Spend less. Live within your means. Just like the rest of us.
The opinions expressed by contributors are their own and do not necessarily represent the views of Nevada News & Views. Digital technology was used in the research, writing, and production of this article. Please verify information and consult additional sources as needed.
