And the Chorus... Is Us?

Surprise, surprise! Perhaps we the people can handle "the t word" after all?

By a stunning margin of 52 percent to 37 percent, Nevadans think the governor and the Gang of 63 should raise taxes to avoid cuts in government services, according to a poll just completed for the Retailers Association of Nevada. [...]

The survey was conducted for the Retailers Association of Nevada by nationally respected Republican pollster Glen Bolger, who also found that the public would prefer the tax increases remain temporary (well, no kidding.) But the significance here is that despite the relentless no-new-taxes mantra repeated by Gov. Brian Sandoval and his echo chamber across the courtyard, and fueled by the likes of Chuck Muth, the conservative firebrand, that’s not where the public is.Or at least not always. That is, voters tend to be more thoughtful than the vocal minority. What a shocker.

Indeed, as Bolger points out, “Support for raising taxes to address the budget shortfall is at an all time high.”

Another significant number: 74 percent of voters think teacher salaries should not be reduced.

Also: 55 percent say a corporate income tax, with 41 percent against.

Voters are split almost evenly on whether to change the tax system – 46 percent say it works well, 48 percent say it’s time for a change.

So Nevada voters get it? They/We really get it? Not so fast.

As usual, voters are a bit inconsistent. On a later question, when asked if the reduced spending in Sandoval’s budget is needed, 52 percent said yes and 44 percent said no. That’s still close but hardly jibes with the tax/cuts question.

Ralston is correct. This IS usual. Come on, don't we all dream about having our cake and eating it, too? Of course, the problem here is that it's simply unrealistic. Trust me, especially with the second lowest state tax rate in the country and #1 cheapest state government in the country, there's essentially no such thing as "waste" in Nevada's government... Unless we're talking about our future wasting away because we don't invest enough in our needed infrastructure, such as our schools.

Still, I must admit I'm feeling more confident about the near future. Despite all the lies being propagated by "Tea Party, Inc.", a strong majority of Nevada voters at least understand that we need revenue to fund the kind of infrastructure we need to build to get us out of the mess we're in AND prevent falling into the same old mess again. Let's hope the powers that be in Carson City are paying attention.