Before jumping on the bandwagon and trying to snag sales tax revenue from out-of-state online retailers — which a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling now allows — Nevada should crunch the numbers to make sure it is worth the effort. Overturning previous case law the court ruled 5-4 in a case out of South Dakota that local jurisdictions may collect sales taxes from online … [Read more...]
Can a Nevada Law Pass Constitutional Muster?
Our federal and state constitutions are meant to lay the ground rules for what our governments can and cannot do, spelling out the rights of the individual to be free from the dictates for well-meaning but overweening lawmakers. A recent obscure and little-noted Supreme Court case out of Minnesota tore the heart out of one of those rights by flippantly dismissing the … [Read more...]
The One Question to Ask Every Candidate
The major party primaries are over and it is on to the General Election this November. The candidates will be making the rounds shaking hands and asking for your vote. So, stick out your right hand and firmly clutch you wallet with your left, then ask where this candidate stands on the question of whether to alter the current property tax law. Back in 2005, when property … [Read more...]
High Court Should Stand Firmly for Free Speech
It has long been agreed that the First Amendment right to free speech includes the right to not be compelled to speak, but this past week the U.S. Supreme Court appeared to skirt this simple premise, though it ruled in favor of a Colorado cake baker who refused in 2012 to create a wedding cake for a same-sex couple for a different reason. The court’s 7-2 ruling in favor of … [Read more...]
Stop Blocking Public Land from Productive Use
Several years ago a high ranking Interior Department official told a Nevada newspaper editorial board that the agency planned to maintain its level of land control by acquiring an acre of land for federal ownership for every acre of land that was released to private ownership. It was a blatant admission that the bureaucracy intended to maintain its power and authority and … [Read more...]
Being ‘Green’ Is Easy, Ignore Facts
If you thought the “green movement” was more about self-righteous politics than clear-headed science, here are two tales that prove the point. In Arizona a petition is being circulated in an effort to get on the ballot an initiative called the Clean Energy for a Healthy Arizona Amendment. This would require 50 percent of the electricity generated in the state to come from … [Read more...]
Let Trump Control Who Stands on His Soapbox
The First Amendment prohibits the federal government abridging one’s free speech, but it does not, as a federal judge has ruled, require anyone to provide the soapbox for that speech. U.S. District Judge Naomi Reice Buchwald of New York ruled recently that President Donald Trump may not block Twitter users who criticize him because that violates their right to free … [Read more...]
How Will Energy Choice Affect Rural Nevada?
Part 2 If the Energy Choice Initiative (ECI) amending the state Constitution to create a competitive market for electricity passes again in the fall its impact on power bills in rural Nevada will depend on how the Legislature writes the rules to make it happen. David Luttrell — general manager of the Lincoln County Power District No. 1, president of the Nevada Rural … [Read more...]