It’s the spending

Running for re-election to the Legislature in 2008, state Senate Democratic Leader Steven Horsford told the Review-Journal "I won't support tax increases -- not when the private sector is losing revenue and losing jobs. The general fund needs to be managed in a way that doesn't allow growth beyond population growth and inflation."

Senate Republican Leader Bill Raggio agreed: "With ... businesses hurting, unemployment rising, this is not the time to talk about raising taxes."

If Carson City thinks the economy has gotten better over the past two years, can we have some of what they're smoking? Yet Sen. Horsford says the state needs a $1.5 billion tax hike next year -- in addition to $1.5 billion in spending cuts, which he hopes to accomplish by "shifting programs to local governments" and other smoke and mirrors -- to close a $3 billion budget gap. And Sen. Raggio reportedly agrees.

This is like hearing your bankrupt brothers-in-law insist they have a new system to beat the house: Every time they lose, they just double their bet -- with your money.

In fact, as pointed out by Mark Ciavola of Nevada's gay conservative group Right Pride, "Senator Horsford neglects to inform taxpayers that a $3 billion budget shortfall will only be a reality if the state's furlough program is eliminated and across-the-board pay raises are re-instated for state workers, among other planned spending increases."

Job-destroying tax hikes during a Great Recession are just plain nuts. It's the spending, stupid.