Letter: Dividing the Pie

As a matter of law, the Nevada state constitution requires a balanced budget. As a matter of economic law and history, raising taxes will never balance a budget. It never has and never will. If a budget cannot be balanced without tax increases, it will never be balanced afterwards. The reason is simple, raising taxes decreases tax revenues and strangles growth. Many Nevada taxpayers believe that our legislators seek to redistribute our tax dollars to buy votes or political power rather than serve the public good. Most voters believe that the Nevada legislature is figuratively rearranging the deck chairs on a ship of state that might be named the Titanic by ignoring the real problems in our state. The task of the governor and the legislature is to decide how to divide and allocate percentages of our economic pie to best serve the public good.

There are many residents whom are neither citizens of our state nor our nation that are demanding a disproportionate share of our pie while flaunting America's laws. We should begin the allocation of the pie by denying any revenue to those that come to our state illegally and instead allocate a small fraction of their funds to provide transportation back to their native countries. It is no coincidence that the unemployment rate in the state, of ten percent, is very close to the percentage of illegal aliens. Each deported alien becomes one more job available for a Nevada citizen, one less economic burden and an increase in both economic growth and the tax base instead of a siphon of scarce Nevada capital to a foreign nation. Nevada needs to enforce the laws on immigration just like other states have done before there is any hope of getting the state budget under control. To do otherwise is to invite many more millions of illegal aliens to Nevada requiring unlimited future expenditures by the taxpayers. No budget can ever succeed until this happens.

Most mothers and grade school children, can budget (i.e. divide a pie). The legislature must focus on growing the pie by reducing taxes and encouraging growth. The 'pie' (i.e. revenues in Nevada) come from businesses that are being strangled and constrained by regulations and taxes via federal, state, and local government from lawmakers who are often ignorant of the economic benefits of free enterprise. If legislators want a larger pie (i.e. more revenue), then unleash the engines of wealth by legalizing capitalism once again. Many choose to focus on increasing taxes instead of increasing revenues. Lowering taxes usually increases revenues through growth. Indeed if you want more of anything (including pie), all the legislature has to do is regulate and tax it less. Both Kennedy and Reagan reduced taxes and doubled revenues. Figure it out.

The attempt by the teacher backed special interest lobby to raise tax on business as a margin tax is tantamount to theft of business assets (much like robbing a bank) and makes about as much sense as taxing unions to provide more money for education. This tax would decrease revenues and cause massive layoffs and unemployment state wide. Like most socialist theories a margin tax violates economic laws and results in the opposite effect by lowering revenues with devastating unintended consequences for shutting down enterprise. The Unions are trying to get something for nothing by theft and will fail because they do not care to learn simple economics.

Even the Chinese communists have finally figured out that free enterprise is the only economic system that works. Even Chicoms have no corporate taxes and a maximum ten percent income tax. Teacher unions are dumber than Chinese communists. Pass the word, Nevada needs a larger pie by encouraging capitalism and free enterprise growth instead of higher taxes, along with the deportation of all illegal aliens in Nevada. Killing businesses and turning Nevada into a banana republic will only make things worse, especially for the economically challenged teachers unions and government workers who do not wish to share the pain created by their chosen elected officials.