Posted by Webmaster on November 28, 2008 under Tax Structure
Local opinion columnist Geoff Schumacher wrote in today’s Review Journal that Nevadans should pay more taxes:
Lawmakers shouldn’t be scared to death of raising taxes. Nevada’s tax burden is the nation’s second lowest, according to the nonpartisan Tax Foundation. This sound sgreat on the surface but it crassly ignores the significant social costs. Idealogues aside, most Nevadans understand that maintaining the many facets of a decent state requires adequate funding.
Indeed, the Tax Foundation is nonpartisan, and did find Nevadans’ tax burden is the nation’s second lowest. But it also found that our tax extraction from non-residents is amongst the nation’s highest, and, most importantly, that our state and local government spending (including what Nevadans and non-Nevadans are required to pay) ranks 25th amongst all states. Indeed, our state and local funding is already adequate.
Posted by Webmaster on November 25, 2008 under Economy, News, Sales Tax
Compared to a year ago, September sales tax collections were off more than five percent, a continuing indicator that Nevadans are either fewer than they were one year ago and/or have stopped spending as much money per person.
Coverage from the Las Vegas Review Journal.
Posted by Webmaster on November 12, 2008 under Gaming Taxes
Gaming Taxes article needs developing here.
Posted by Webmaster on November 11, 2008 under Spending, Tax Structure
The Urban Institute is a “non-partisan think tank” (doesn’t everyone claim to be?) that has published a comparative study of the 50 states, looking at each state’s revenue capacity, expenditure need, and overall level of fiscal capacity. The link is to a PDF file that includes the entire 90-page report.
The study defines a state’s expenditure need as
the amount that a state would have to spend on its residents to provide services on par with the national average. Expenditure need is calculated across seven broad spending categories, and state amounts can differ based on differences in population or other factors. For example, all other things being equal, a state with a large percentage of its population between the ages of 5 and 18 has a higher need for spending on education than one with fewer schoolage children. A state with a high expenditure effort spends more than its expenditure need.
The interesting part of the report is that Nevada’s “expenditure need” was fourth from last (see chart on page 71). Places like Mississippi, Alabama and Louisiana topped this chart. And this was using data from before Nevada’s record tax hike in 2003 and spending splurge that took place in the years right after the study.
This study would seem to indicate that Nevada has shifted from a low-tax-and-spend state to a little above average over the past couple of decades, even though some of our political leaders still say our spending is much lower than other states in an effort to increase taxes.
Posted by Webmaster on November 10, 2008 under Car Tax
Forbes Magazine has published a list of the ten worst states in which to own a car, based on true cost of ownership. Between Nevada’s car taxes and fuel taxes, we ended up in fourth place on the report.
Being a state without an income tax is a double edged sword. On the good side, it makes government funding much more stable than our neighbors who rely on income taxes. The down side is that some of our citizens seem to feel that without an income tax, Nevada citizens are somehow underfunding government. They get to feeling guilty, and call for higher-still taxation.
Our legislature, however, has seen to it that we collect as much as our surrounding states – we just do it more stealthily, just like Forbes found in this study, and ALEC found recently in a much broader study.
Posted by Webmaster on November 10, 2008 under LVCVA, Room Tax
The Las Vegas Convention and Visitor’s Authority is building a huge expansion but it is primarily cosmetic improvements.
Here is it’s online brochure. At the bottom of page 9, LVCVA reveals that the project will increase meeting space by 86,810 sq. feet. Dividing this into the $890-million project cost yields just over $10,000 per square foot. The cost is so high because of the non-productive expenditure’s built in.
The Las Vegas Convention and Visitor’s Authority has two missions: the first is to advertise Las Vegas to the world to convince them to vacation and hold conventions in Las Vegas, and the second is to operate the Las Vegas Convention Center. It does this with the lion’s share of room taxes. Because room rates skyrocketed for the ten years ending in 2006, LVCVA’s revenue also skyrocketed. On the convention center expansion, it seems to have gone to their heads.
