(Todd Bailey) – Just like the pioneers who settle the great State of Nevada before it was a state, after being lost in the desert for months, the Nevada Vision Stakeholder Group has hit quick sand, a squishy place they did not expect, and are unsure how to get out.
This is not the responsibility of the chair or members of the group; that very expensive decision to the taxpayer was made by Democrat State Senate Majority Leader Steven Horsford. He is the person who sent these people on a mission to create an academic reason to raise current taxes, and create new taxes, in Nevada.
The most difficult part of this mission is convincing the Voting Nevada Taxpayer that there is a need for a state wide income tax, a gross receipts tax, or some other “Magic Tax” that will make all these difficult decisions the next legislature must face, EASY. Nobody wants to make the tough decisions. Sorry, that’s just not possible. Just ask anyone in Nevada who has lost their job, is upside down in their home, upside down in their investments, and can’t pay current taxes. Where are they supposed to get the money? Nobody at the Nevada Vision Stakeholder Group is asking this question, it’s not even in the report.
The report they have drafted, after months of meetings, is in the words of the $250,000 Moody’s consultant, “Squishy”. Surprised? Listen for yourself.
Who’s responsible for this? Is anyone accountable for this blatant waste of taxpayer money? How did so many state government employees find time away from the office to be members of the Nevada Vision Stakeholder Group, after complaining endlessly about loosing money to the state for balancing the budget?
A great example is the county manager of Washoe County, who is a member of the Nevada Vision Stakeholder Group. There are also two Assistant County Managers in Washoe County, who cover the manager’s job when out of the office. Does Washoe County really need two Assistant County Managers during a time of budget cuts, just so the County Manager can go lobby for higher taxes, and new taxes, at the Vision Stakeholder Group?
Another example of the Taxpayer’s Merry-Go-Round, a government employee, spending tax dollars, trying raise more tax dollars. Don’t be too shocked, it happens all the time, but don’t make the mistake of assuming there is waste in the system, or more efficiency that can be found (hint, hint).
The chair and members of the Vision Stakeholder Group know they have nothing but a “Squishy Report”, and are doing everything they can to meet the deadline in July. Listen to the attempt to find a way out of the quick sand, and produce something of value to the Nevada Taxpayers who funded this project, that is quickly becoming irrelevant to what is really happening in Nevada today.
This is documentation that the consultant, who was hired by Democrat Majority Leader Steven Horsford, can NOT produce anything truly tangible, nothing that the 2011 Nevada Legislature can act on outside of a Christmas List of spending, nothing even close to what the SAGE Commission did, a complete failure.
Professors at the University of Las Vegas can easily spot the student who is unprepared, and lacks the facts, or just throwing out opinions without substantiation or solutions, when they turn in a term paper that indicates a real lack academic rigor. A “Squishy Report”, or a “Hippy Report”, as one member commented.
Fact is, people who live in the “Hippy Culture”, actually know more about the real world, and how to survive, than the members of the Nevada Vision Stakeholder Group can even imagine. Most “Hippies” completely reject the idea of government involvement in their lives, often live communally or out of a bus, are great entrepreneurs creating modest wealth selling things like corn chip sandwiches in parking lots of the next show. It is not a lifestyle everyone chooses, and most “Hippies” move on to a more mainstream life, occasionally slipping back listening to music on the way to work each day.
Once again, the Vision Stakeholder Group really don’t know what they are talking about, it just sounds good. A group of “Hippies” sitting around the table would come up with equally productive, or even better ideas, than this group will ultimately turn in to the Nevada Legislature.
How bad can this situation get? There was the suggestion by the Vision Stakeholder Group, on the need to increase philanthropy, and the need for rich people to die. Read that as many times as you like, listen if YOU want proof.
Even Democrat State Senate Majority Leader Steven Horsford is starting to have his doubts. A few weeks ago, Democrats in the Nevada Legislature created a committee on Savings and Government Efficiency (SAGE), because they already know nothing like that is coming out of the Nevada Vision Stakeholder Group, and Nevada Taxpayers don’t want another Christmas List from another government study group. We just don’t have the money, stop telling yourselves we do.
(Mr. Bailey is a candidate for state Senate in District 4 in Washoe County)
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