By Greg Brower
Democrats in the Legislature finally unveiled their proposed solution to our current state budget crisis—a $1.2 billion dollar tax increase.
This would be the largest tax increase in state history—bigger and even more onerous than the billion dollar Amodei-Care proposal from 2003. Simply put, this proposal would be disastrous for our state’s economy.
As our economy is beginning to show real signs of economic recovery, we cannot afford to do anything to undermine job growth. And we certainly cannot tax our way out of this recession.
This plan would only increase the financial burden on taxpayers throughout our state.
The reality is this: in the last three months, we have been able to restore nearly a half billion dollars to the state budget, including more than $200 million for education. These add-backs were made possible by stronger than expected tax revenue projections, a sign that our economy is beginning to recover.
In fact, the latest job numbers indicate that our state economy has, once again, begun to create jobs. This is obviously a very positive sign and we must not do anything that might result in a reversal of this trend.
For all of these reasons, I oppose the Democrats’ plan and support Governor Sandoval’s commitment to balancing the budget without new taxes and without extending the sunsets on the tax increases passed in 2009.
