Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

SUN EDITORIAL:

Just the way things are?

Governor, Legislature shouldn’t push off state’s problems into the future

In Carson City, the Legislature is holding hearings on Gov. Brian Sandoval’s budget plan, which would make massive cuts in state services. The size of the cuts and the effects on state services are significant, but what shouldn’t be lost is that Nevada has been down this road before.

Time and again, Nevada runs into budget trouble because of a broken and inequitable tax system, and time and again governors and lawmakers have cut the budget and approved incremental tax increases to get through economic downturns. Meanwhile, the state’s problems get pushed down the road with the vague hope that someday, when things are better, there will be money to improve the schools and other vital services.

But those days never seem to come.

Elected officials often talk about making tough choices — like budget cuts — but they often fail to make the truly tough choices that would improve the state. Several sessions of the Legislature have ended with politicians saying it’s “not the time” to make changes. Instead, they create commissions and task forces to study the issues, and their reports come back to sit on shelves. The problems are pushed off for another time.

For example, the Legislature has failed to act on several major studies of the state’s tax system, and the consensus is clear: Nevada will continue to face severe budget crises until the tax system is fixed. As a result, services have suffered.

So why does Nevada persist in this cycle of insanity?

Some political observers shrug their shoulders — there isn’t the political will to make changes, and citizens haven’t exactly been clamoring for change. Politicians fear that raising taxes would be a career-ending move. So, everyone goes along with the status quo. The public schools and university system limp along. Public services remain relatively meager. Infrastructure projects are delayed.

We’ve heard it said many times: “It’s just the way things are.”

It doesn’t have to be this way, but the lack of action is supported by a faulty conventional wisdom. For example, there has been the fantasy that things will magically fix themselves when the economy improves. But the economy boomed for years, yet that didn’t bring higher student achievement. And now, many analysts say, the economy in Nevada won’t return to the heady boom times it once enjoyed.

For years, officials have tried to lure businesses into the state and diversify the economy. Many supporters of economic diversification say businesses just want low taxes. On that count, Nevada succeeds. Its tax system is among the nation’s most favorable to business, as it has been for years. So why haven’t businesses flocked here? Because business owners want more than low taxes — they’re looking for good schools and an educated workforce. Nevada just doesn’t compare with other states on those counts.

Some people argue that the real problem is the government — it’s bloated and inefficient. Although there are inefficiencies and problems — generous pensions and benefits for government employees need to be reined in — government here is, by any reasonable measure, among the smallest in the nation, and there is hardly a wealth of services.

It’s time for the state to confront its problems, but unfortunately, the governor and the Legislature are headed down the well-worn path of many who went before them and pushed the problems down the road. That can’t be accepted anymore.

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