Last night Governor Jim Gibbons of Nevada issued his State of the State address. Because Governor Gibbons made a promise of not raising any taxes at all, Nevada’s economic woes grew right along with its population while revenues went down. Governor Gibbon’s solution to this pressing need for more money? Fire teachers.
Before I go into just how imbecilic his suggestion is, let’s explore the region of common sense. Nevada is a unique state. It is the only one where gaming is allowed state wide. New Jersey has Atlantic City and a few others have Indian Casinos, but they are not Nevada. To build a casino anywhere else other than Nevada, a gaming company has to convince that state that allowing them in is a good thing, translate that as “profitable”. The gaming taxes for the successful bidder can be as high as a full third of the gross profits. In Nevada the gaming tax is less than ten percent and it is not calculated on the gross, but the net. For some of the companies this winds up as less than one percent a year. It is no wonder that a good portion of the gaming CEOs in Nevada own their own jets and commute from their Oceanside estates in Southern California.
Mining is the other primary business in Nevada. More gold comes out of Nevada’s ground than any other state in the union. The mining industry pays an effective .5% a year in taxes while the sale price of gold continues to skyrocket. Barbara K. Cegvaske, the State Senator for District 8 in Nevada told a group of teachers being threatened with the loss of their careers that if the state raised taxes on mining to save the teachers’ jobs, mining would leave the state. I’ve had the misfortune to speak with Senator Cegvaske. You would not be blinded by her intellect. It is very likely she actually believes what she says. More’s the pity. Gold is found deep within the ground. If mining left the state, where will the mineral they seek be? Mining technology has improved since the gold rush, but I doubt it has climbed to the level where they could take the mountains with them when they go.
Governor Gibbons has a problem he did not mention in his address; he has no veto power. The last election eliminated the Republican leadership in the State Senate and gave the Democrat Speaker in the State Assembly a veto-proof majority. The power shift in the Assembly can be placed onto the shoulders of one man, George Harris, publisher of a poorly written rag called Liberty Watch. Harris never forgave me for defeating his anointed candidate, Kris Munn for the District 21 Assembly seat. That made me the 15th vote in the Assembly on the Republican side. Because of that position, I was able to block a couple of measures that would have severely impacted small business’s ability to survive in Nevada. Harris spent a fortune attacking me in the last primary. Because of that and a record low Republican turn out at the polls, Harris’ puppet got into the general. I was quite happy to help the Democrat Candidate Ellen Spiegel win the seat. Because of Harris, the Governor has no power over legislation at all. The question is whether or not the legislature has the wisdom to do what is right.
Most legislators have more than one face, the one they show in public and the one they wear in private. While in the legislature, I learned what most Republican legislators think of public education. They consider teachers in public schools the enemy. A few of them actually think teachers are a danger to their children. They make the error of confusing the teachers union and its political agenda with teachers. It is impossible to convince them otherwise. I’ve tried.
If the Nevada Legislature does the right thing and raises revenue properly, we have a hope of becoming a better state. If they act as they have in the past and continue to kowtow to the spoiled industries of gaming and mining, we run the risk of becoming incapable of educating even a tiny percentage of our children. Vouchers will not solve the problem because they still involve state monies and private schools have the option of refusing any child that may present a problem.
Right now more than half of the students leaving high school cannot read or write at a functional level. Business, small and large continues to complain about the quality of applicants, especially in the technical trades. I wonder what they will be saying when they cannot find applicants even capable of writing their own name?
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