So President Trump has finally decided to take our advice. More than a year ago this newspaper noted in an editorial that then presidential candidates Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, Chris Christie, Jeb Bush, John Kasich and Ben Carson all had proposed repealing the IRS deduction for state and local taxes, but Trump was still vague on the matter. Nevada is one of only nine states … [Read more...]
State workers should not be allowed to unionize
Lawmakers in Carson City keep coming up with more ways to spend our money. Senate Bill 486, for example, would authorize state government workers to unionize and collectively bargain for salaries and benefits. Currently, state law allows local government workers to engage in collective bargaining but not employees of the state. This has resulted in local government … [Read more...]
Forget PILT checks, transfer federal lands
There is considerable consternation in rural counties across the West over the Trump administration planning to cut the size of Payment in Lieu of Taxes (PILT) checks this year. The current budget blueprint calls for cuts but doesn’t specify how much. Because the federal government does not pay property taxes, since 1977 Congress has seen fit to dole out to counties — … [Read more...]
Forfeiture of property should be tied to a conviction
A couple of weeks ago we editorially bemoaned the fact that no one had introduced a bill in the state Legislature to restrict the practice of law enforcement agencies seizing private property — homes, cars, cash and such — under the presumption it is the product of criminal activity, but without ever having to actually go through the due process of convicting someone of a crime … [Read more...]
Lowering age of compulsory education could be harmful
Nevada lawmakers have for decades been throwing taxpayer money at various feel-good-but-futile programs and schemes in an attempt to drag the state’s public education system up from the lowest rungs. The latest proposal to surface in the Legislature in Carson City might not be merely futile, but actually harmful. Democratic North Las Vegas Assemblywoman Olivia Diaz has … [Read more...]
Time to stop police from extorting cash and property
The appalling Constitution-bending practice by which law enforcement agencies have for years seized private property under the presumption it is the product of criminal activity without ever having to go the bothersome effort of actually, you know, obtaining a criminal conviction continues apace. The latest ignoble example of what is called civil asset forfeiture comes to us … [Read more...]
CNN starts odd trend in journalism
Are you watching the snit-fight between the president of the United States and the cable news powerhouse CNN? It’s a beaut. Donald Trump called CNN the proprietor of fake news and CNN said the president is a big, fat liar. It has reached a point in which CNN now adds the words “without proof” to about everything the president asserts. Case in point: Trump tweets the … [Read more...]
Trump right to rein in EPA water grab
President Trump this past week signed an executive order telling the Environmental Protection Agency and the Army Corps of Engineers to review the so-called waters of the United States (WOTUS) rule created under the Obama administration, which attempted to usurp dominion over every stream, ditch, wetland or muddy hoof print that might eventually spill a few drops of water into … [Read more...]