When it comes to taxes, Nevada is a long way from Maine. The Pine Tree State's business climate makes a nor'easter seem welcoming by comparison. Welfare programs are expanding at the expense of economic growth, and wages are stuck in a deep freeze. According to a study by the Maine Heritage Policy Center, only New York's state and local tax burden is harsher than Maine's.

"The fundamental problem with high taxes is you reduce the ability of business to do what business does best: create jobs and wealth. There is a distinct relationship between the two," said J. Scott Moody, vice president and chief economist for the policy center.

The strength of Nevada's economy validates his argument. With a tax burden that is comparatively lower than that of Mr. Moody's home state, Nevada has low unemployment, strong wage growth and job creation and a business environment that attracts thousands of new residents and billions of dollars worth of investment.

However, the Maine Heritage Policy Center report also serves as a warning to Nevadans. After a decade among the 10 states with the lowest tax burdens, Nevada is making a dramatic climb in the rankings. In 2002, Nevada had the 36th-highest tax burden. By 2004, the Silver State shot up to 20th. That year, according to the report, state and local governments in Nevada swallowed 10.6 percent of residents' personal income.

"Your ranking is moving up," Mr. Moody said of Nevada's ascent in his report. "If you continue to move in that direction, you will pay the price in poor performance economically."

Plenty of Nevada politicians want to test that theory, never mind the example of Maine. They're dying to roll hundreds of millions of dollars in surplus tax revenue into the general fund -- and balloon future budgets in the process. In advance of the 2007 Legislature, agencies have already submitted budget requests that would increase total state spending about 25 percent to more than $4 billion per year.

Spendthrift lawmakers will say the Maine Heritage Policy Center's study is flawed because it applies the gaming, sales and room taxes paid by millions of tourists to residents' tax burden. They're adamant that Nevadans can afford to pay more.

It's true that Nevadans enjoy tax benefits in a tourist economy, but the end result for government is still a huge pile of money to spend. The policy center report, which mirrors the findings of a Tax Foundation study, shows that Nevada politicians have plenty of resources available to them -- more than most state and local governments. They just don't want to make tough fiscal decisions and set firm priorities.

Instead, they'd rather moan that Nevada "is last in major every major list of all 50 states." (Certainly, Nevada isn't last in tax burden anymore.)

Nevada does not exist in a vacuum. The state is in perpetual competition with 49 other states to draw commerce. If government grows faster than the economy for too long, neither can be sustained.

As Nevada climbs the tax-burden rankings of the Maine Heritage Policy Center, other states fall -- and find themselves in position poach investment and jobs from high-tax neighbors.

When lawmakers convene this winter to set Nevada's fiscal course, they should heed the caution of a familiar cry: Remember Maine.