Government Spending, Taxes

In case you missed it…

John Tsarpalas

2019 Legislative Session

Get ready: Nevada’s 80th Legislative session begins Monday, and an avalanche of bills — many of them intended to target taxpayers — is already rumbling downhill. So, keeping an eye on what lawmakers are up to, regarding your personal earnings, is now more important than ever. Nevada Policy will once again be helping you track legislation online with our online tracker, which will be updated in real time throughout the week (view here). The Nevada Policy site will also post a weekly summary of developments. So, keep on top of what is going on at the legislature by bookmarking our taxpayer guide to the 2019 legislative session!

 

NVPERS

With a $13.7 billion unfunded liability, Nevada’s Public Employee Retirement System has become a real risk to taxpayers and public sector employees. In fact, government workers are being forced to cough up more money this year, despite having just recently received a cut to their promised benefits. So, what will public workers, such as teachers, get in exchange for the upcoming rate hike? Well — absolutely nothing. Just as with the multiple rate hikes that preceded it, this upcoming increase will be going entirely towards paying down the system’s record-high unfunded liability. PERS now costs the average teacher $17,000 per year, and almost half of that goes toward paying down its $13.7 billion debt. (Read more)

 

Fiscal and taxes

When national Republicans cut the tax rate as part of their tax reform bill — which reduced corporate taxes from 35 percent to 21 percent — most companies seemed pleased to have more money available to hand out in raises and bonuses and to invest in growth. For the outdoor-clothing retailer Patagonia, however, the rate cuts were described as “irresponsible.” CEO Rose Marcario claimed the tax cuts would defund government-run efforts to combat climate change. And so, the company recently went out of its way to announce a plan to donate its $10 million tax-cut windfall to private nonprofits battling climate change. Certainly, Marcario intended the donation as a “protest” of sorts against lower taxes — but Patagonia’s move has inadvertently highlighted one of the great benefits of letting individuals (and companies) keep more of their own money: They are free to invest that money in the causes that are close to their hearts. (Read more)

 

Cronyism

In addition to a $750 million taxpayer funded subsidy, the new Raiders Stadium being built near I-15 is about to get another perk not available to average Nevadans: It will not have to use Nevada’s monopoly energy provider, NV Energy. It’s just the latest example of the favoritism that, unfortunately, passes as “economic development” in Nevada. (Read more) On a related note, ReasonTV had an excellent video explaining the problem with using taxpayer dollars to subsidize stadiums. (Watch here)

 

Free markets

Part of the problem facing free-market advocates when they speak about reforming healthcare, is that even in the days before the Affordable Care Act, Americans were generally unhappy with the way the market worked. What few Americans were aware of, however, was that most of the healthcare market’s problems were a direct consequence of government’s century-long crusade to “fix” traditional doctor-patient medicine.  Over the decades, federal and state governments essentially turned doctors, hospitals and providers into serfs for a third-party-payer system tightly regulated and controlled by the “fixers” in government. The Trump administration, however, has a few ideas on how to change this. (Read more)

John Tsarpalas

John Tsarpalas

President

John Tsarpalas is the President of the Nevada Policy, and is deeply committed to spreading limited government ideas and policy to create a better, more prosperous Nevada for all.

For over three decades, John has educated others in the ideals and benefits of limited government. In the 1980s, John joined the Illinois Libertarian Party and served on its State Central Committee. Later in the 90s, he transitioned to the Republican Party, and became active in the Steve Forbes for President Campaign and flat taxes.

In 2005, he was recruited to become the Executive Director of the Illinois Republican Party where he graduated from the Republican National Committee’s Campaign College, the RNC’s Field Management School, and the Leadership Institute’s activist training.

Additionally, John has served as President of the Sam Adams Alliance and Team Sam where he did issue education and advocacy work in over 10 states, with a focus on the web.

John also founded or helped start the following educational not-for-profits: Think Freely Media, the Haym Salomon Center – where he served as Chairman, the Franklin Center for Government & Public Integrity and Midwest Speaking Professionals.

A native of Chicago, John now lives in Las Vegas with his wife of more than 40 years.