Not that it matters or anything but just for the record

Sure, the nation's most mentally and emotionally unbalanced governor fired his incompetent campaign manager for accurately expressing the candidate's views. But fully wingnutted, campaign-trained Rove wannabes are a dime a dozen these days, so replacing one clueless nimrod is not a problem. It's an opportunity.

Meantime, in other Jim Gibbons campaign news, the flaming sociopath sent out another "no new taxes" campaign flyer designed to fire up the teabaggers and disguised as a letter to state employees.

On occasions too numerous to mention, the creepy flim-flam man has demonstrated not only a willingness but an eagerness to deliberately disregard or misstate facts if he thinks there's something in it for him. So it is at least somewhat surprising to note that when Gibbons tells state employees that any increase in the mining tax would require a constitutional amendment, he is -- gasp! -- technically half right. The tax rate is in the state constitution.

However -- and this is more in character with his default behavior, i.e., lying -- mining tax revenue could be raised merely by eliminating some or most of the industry's many, many tax deductions, which are not in the constitution but in state statutes and tax commission rules & regs (that's right, the unelected state tax commission routinely fiddles with mining taxes, usually under the radar and always without changing the constitution.)

The mining industry typically writes off between 70 and 75 percent of the value of Nevada gold production. If not for the long list of statutory and regulatory -- but not constitutionally mandated -- sweetheart deal tax deductions and loopholes, instead of roughly $40 million the gold mining industry paid to the state's general fund in 2008, the companies would have paid in the neighborhood of $140 million.

As one of any of the dozens of cynical mining industry lobbyists who readily side with Gibbons to put their out-of-state employer's bottom line ahead of the interest of their own state without giving it a second thought will tell you, that is not enough money to fix the state's problems.

Which is why when those same mercenary apologists for and defenders of transnational corporations claim that Nevada needs a broad based tax that all businesses will pay instead of making the mining  industry pay more, they are deliberately offering a false choice. Nevada needs both. And then some.

Eliminating or limiting mining industry tax deductions is one thing that Gibbons and legislators could do pretty much whenever they wanted. But they won't because they'd rather cut education.

See? This decade is going to be grrrrreat!

Comments

[Happygirl]

The decade will be much better for Nev. when Gibbons and Fornicator Extraordinaire John Ensign resign.

[Nevada Ned]

I used to think of Gibbons as just another out-of-touch conservative politician. I thought that The Illustrious Gleaner's description of Gibbons as mentally unbalanced was an exaggeration. But now I'm reconsidering: what kind of politician fires their campaign manager in response to a totally inane remark?

[Scorpiogal]

It will indeed be a much better decade since Gibbons and Ensign WILL NOT be re-elected. That alone is worth celebrating.

[Douglas Democrat]

Gibbons must've been asleep when all the chaos erupted over in California when the state universities had to jack tuition into the stratosphere to off-set the budget cuts they were handed.

Then again, Gibbons asleep is pretty much his default setting isn't it?

[Scorpiogal]

Rip Van Gibbons can not be bothered to wake up long enough to run anything unless it involves women. Anyone asking him to do his job is asking for way too much. It would require intellect,forethought,research and communication which is clearly lacking in one so plagued with narcolepsy. Seeing him in the media-knowing he is full on sonambulant-is just painful.

[bugaboo]

Gibbons is an idiot and Sandoval is nothing but his better-looking shadow. If oily Brian gets elected we're in for more years of deterioration - though probably only two because he quits in the middle of whatever he does.

[ColinFromLasVegas]

Just a correction.

I think Scorpiogal meant to say foreskin. Not forethought.

Just trying to help. lol

[Scorpiogal]

@ Colin
Oh SNAP! lol.

[medeak]

Ensign may be saying no taxes but he's feeing us to death. Was just informed by attorney that business license will be through secretary of state rather than sales tax division which now means I have to purchase 4 business licenses instead of one for each LLC I have. (more than one LLC for insurance purposes for one business) Compound that state wide for every incorporated entity and we should have a state surplus.

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