I just saw a Tweet by Assemblyman Scott Hammond (R-13) where he invited me to take a look at his new campaign website. Since Assemblyman Hammond is my assemblyman, I did go to take a look and I found it interesting. Right on the front page is an article titled "Clearing Up The Lies". You see, Assemblyman Hammond was recently on Face-To-Face with John Ralston in a debate with his Senate 18 opponent, Richard McArthur.
Ralston showed a video clip where then candidate Hammond stated, “I want people to look at me and if I tell them I won’t raise your taxes I want them to understand that I won’t. You know, I walk up to my commitments and I keep them. When I tell you face-to-face that I’m not going to raise taxes, I don’t think I have to sign a piece of paper to prove it.” (More info HERE)
In the 2011 session, Assemblyman Hammond did vote to extend the $620 Million in taxes which were set to expire or "sunset". The interesting thing about this is, on his website, Hammond states "The extension of the sunsets did not increase taxes."
Although the extension of these sunset taxes technically did not increase taxes, the point is that thanks to Assemblyman Hammond we are currently paying $620 Million more in taxes today than we are supposed to be paying!
If today we are paying $620 MILLION in taxes that we were promised we would not be paying today, how is that not a tax increase? Are you as tired of the "Doublespeak" as I?
Hammond goes on to say in his website "No one person, business or family is paying more in taxes now than they did before I took office."
Exactly.
We're not paying any MORE but the fact is WE SHOULD BE PAYING LESS!
I don't know about you but if our elected officials promised us a "temporary" tax that would expire in two years, shouldn't they keep their word and let the taxes expire when they were promised?
Assemblyman Hammond is currently running for the State Senate 18 seat against Assemblyman Richard McArthur. Hammond has already stated publicy that he supports making the $620 Million in "temporary" tax PERMANENT.
I think the taxpayers in Nevada would rather see these "temporary" taxes disappear as promised and have their elected officials keep their word, for a change.
I think you can see why you must tell the candidates that "If you don't sign the Tax Pledge, you don't get my vote!"
As a candidate for Assembly 13, I have signed the Tax Pledge and am the only Assembly 13 candidate to do so.
Assemblyman Richard McArthur is running for the Senate 18 seat, has one of the most conservative voting records in the Assembly and has also signed the Tax Pledge. He is also the only candidate for Senate 18 to do so.
The choice is clear, if you don't want your taxes raised and would want the "temporary" taxes to be temporary, tell the candidates, "If you don't sign the Tax Pledge, you don't get my vote!"
More than 1,000 government employees made over $200,000 in total compensation in 2011 Pop quiz time. Who made more in base pay in 2011: Gov. Brian Sandoval — at $143,426.25 — or the parks director for the City of Reno? Who made more in base pay in 2011: Any of Clark County's 15 top-paid senior attorneys or Attorney General Catherine Cortez Masto, who earned $140,389.37? Finally, who made more in base pay in 2011: Gov. Brian Sandoval or the building and safety director for the City of Las Vegas? Answer: in every case, the local government employees. Reno's parks, recreation and community services director made $148,991.80 in base pay and $208,943.38 in total compensation. Fifteen senior attorneys in Clark County made $152,372.80 and well over $200,000 after including benefits and other pay. Las Vegas' building and safety director made $154,101.76 and a whopping $260,969.85 in total compensation. This information comes from TransparentNevada.com — a website provided by the Nevada Policy Research Institute and dedicated to serving Nevada's public by providing transparency on all aspects of state, county and city governments.
The Nevada Constitution is clear, it is unconstitutional to have a State income tax. Yet, we do have an income tax in Nevada. It's called a payroll tax. This is a tax that a business must pay based on the money, or income, they pay their employees. The more employees a business has, the more they have to pay. As this tax is based on the income of employees, it is an income tax. As Nevada continues to go through tough economic times, we need to be talking about ways for businesses to expand and hire employees. Eliminating the payroll tax is a huge step in the right direction. We need to reward businesses for creating jobs. Many of our current Assemblymen and State Senators are not only in favor of NOT eliminating this anti-hiring payroll tax, the want to increase it. This is why I am running for Nevada Assembly in District 13. It's time to bring some common-sense back to Nevada. It's time to eliminate job killing taxes, rules and regulations which do nothing except suck the money from hardworking small busines owners and prevents jobs from being created. Support me and my campaign. Support and vote for Leonard Foster Nevada Assembly District 13!
Dear Candidate Foster, The Nevada Animal Owners & Sportsmen - Voting Alliance has selected you as the candidate of choice for State Assembly District 13. Good luck in your campaign to represent the people of Nevada in your district. Ken Sondej Nevada Animal Owners & Sportsmen - Voting Alliance www.naos-va.com (A IRS section 527 Political Action Committee (PAC) Organization) Not affiliated with and not authorized by any candidate or candidate's committee
John Ellison Assemblyman # 33 P.O. Box 683 Elko Nevada 89801 775-738-6287 Fax 753-8503 ellisonelectric@frontiernet.net To whom it may concern: I hereby endorse Leonard Foster as the Republican candidate for Nevada Assembly 13. Leonard is a proven conservative, a small business owner, a parent and foster parent. He lives in a world where common sense needs to be applied every day. Leonard has a desire to improve the Nevada Education system, specifically Clark County. His goal is to give back to the teachers and the parents the ability to educate at the local level by allowing choices. Parents should have options for their children’s education. Leonard believes in accountability and transparency which is definitely needed in state government. Leonard Foster is a proponent of 2nd Amendment rights and will be a positive influence in the legislature when gun control issues arise. As an entrepreneur and provider to his family, Leonard understands balancing a budget and knows how to work within one, which will be a great advantage in governing our state I look forward to working in the NV State Assembly with Leonard Foster, who will prove to be an asset to the State Legislature. Sincerely, Nevada State Assemblyman John Ellison
I want to thank Veterans in Politics for their support in my campaign for Assembly District 13. I look forward to working together and making a difference in the lives of the men and women of the Armed Forces who protect our freedoms and the Constitution.
It is the goal of Veterans In Politics to teach, educate, organize and awaken our veterans and their families to select, support and vote intelligently for a better world and to protect ourselves from our own government(s) in a culture of corruption and to be the political voice for those in other groups that do not have one.
Yes, I really do have 10 children. 5 boys and 5 girls age 20 to 5. There are two sets of twins. The youngest two just turned 5 last week.
This is a story about Rachael, one of the 5 year olds.
The other day I was laying on the couch in the living room. I was just starting to doze off when I felt someone covering me with a blanket. I peeked with one eye and saw it was Rachael. She took her time and made sure that I was covered from my neck to my feet. When she was done, she came up to my head, leaned over and said "Good night, Daddy", she then kissed me on the forehead and said " I love you, Daddy".
As she walked away, I looked up and said "Thank you, Lord".
You see, children are the greatest blessing from God and I feel blessed to be given the task of raising these beautiful kids. They are special and I can truly say that, as more children came into our family, that my love didn't divide, it multiplied.
This is why I am running for Nevada Assembly in District 13. I want to make sure that my children, and all the children in Nevada, have the same opportunity for success that all of us old geezers did.
So, am I crazy? You tell me.
(Victor Joecks/NPRI) – I’m currently reading CCSD’s 2011 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report and came across this gem. In their transmittal letter, CCSD Superintendent Dwight Jones and CCSD School Board President Carolyn Edwards write (p. xviii): During fiscal year 2010, the Nevada legislature was forced to respond to continued declines in revenues and cut state aid to the district from their original budgeted amounts. The result was that the District only received an additional $10 per pupil in fiscal year 2011 over fiscal year 2010. (Emphasis added.) Two things are remarkable here. First, this is yet another example of how often government ‘cuts’ are actually spending increases. After assuming an increase in spending, government agencies turn around and label reductions in future spending as a “cut,” even if they receive more funding than they did the year before. Second, this description, sadly, is actually better than most. At least it notes that the “cut” in state funding was from the “originally budgeted amount.” Many times government officials, including Gov. Brian Sandoval, Sen. Michael Roberson, Assemblyman Pat Hickey, and Assemblyman Marcus Conklin, just assert that spending more on education is a “cut,” without any explanation that the state is, in fact, spending more. It’s time to acknowledge that Nevada has nearly tripled inflation-adjusted, per-pupil spending in the last 50 years and that spending more and hiring more teachers hasn’t increased student achievement. Yes, this is why I am running for Nevada Assembly in District 13. It's time we bring some common sense to the Nevada budget and stop the lies.
Back in the 2009 Session, our Legislature raised taxes by $620 Million. These taxes were "temporary" and set to expire, or sunset, in 2011. However, in the 2011 Session, our elected representatives voted to extend these "temporary" taxes for another two years, again promising they would disappear in two years. Just last week, Governor Sandoval publicly stated that the new budget for the 2013 session would include keeping the full $620 Million. I guess this is how "temporary" taxes become permanent. The reasoning for not allowing the $620 Million to sunset , Jeff Mohlenkamp, the governor’s budget czar, stated that demand for “safety net (welfare) services” has supposedly “increased dramatically and continued high demand is expected.” So, according to Mr. Mohlenkamp, the $620 million is to go to essential services. Or is it? Mr. Mohlenkamp goes on to say, “All executive branch agencies must limit their agency request budget submissions to amounts listed in the attached General Fund target sheet. … These General Fund targets are…adjusted for pay-related reductions that sunset effective July 1, 2013. These reductions that have been added back include furloughs, pay rate reductions, suspension of merit salary increases, and suspension of longevity pay.” Did you get that? The $620 Million isn't going to go to "essential services", it's going straight into the pockets of public employees in the form of pay raises. As has been well reported, State and local government employees are already paid up to 30% more than the equivalent private sector worker. Here in Nevada State employees average $50,125 per year, local government employees $52,088 while the same job in the private sector average only $40,899. So, the reason for not allowing the $620 million to sunset as promised is so we can give the higher paid government employees a raise. I'm sorry, but I believe it's time for our elected officials to do what they say. We were promised the $620 Million would end in two years, we've had them for four. Now our Governor and State Senate "leaders" tell us they want to make them permanent. As your Assemblyman, I will vote against any attempt to increase taxes and will vote against any attempt to extend the $620 Million we were promised would already be gone. You can read more on this topic HERE.
Support and elect Leonard Foster for Nevada Assembly District 13!
I just received this Press Release from the Nevada Policy Research Institute. It looks like plans are already in the works to raise our taxes in the 2013 session. At a time when Nevada is just starting to recover from this recession (depression?) the last thing we need are tax hikes. This is why I am running for Nevada Assembly in district 13. Before we even talk about tax hikes I feel we first must make sure that our tax dollars are being spent wisely. That is, make sure all the agencies and departments are spending their current monies in the most efficient manner. Nevada must start to use a Budgeting For Outcomes or a Zero Based Budgeting system which other States have implemented. This will assure that our tax dollars will be spent in the most efficient manner possible while proving all the essential services Nevada needs. Please support my campaign and help being some common sense to Nevada government. Leonard Foster for Nevada Assembly District 13. NPRI: Sandoval wrong to propose raising taxes
LAS VEGAS — In response to the news that Gov. Brian Sandoval will instruct government agencies to budget as if the sunset taxes will continue in the next biennium, Geoffrey Lawrence, deputy policy director at the Nevada Policy Research Institute, released the following comments: Taxpayers lose again with Governor Brian Sandoval's decision to propose extending the so-called "sunset" taxes. This demonstrates, once again, the danger behind the concept of a "temporary" tax increase. Once bureaucracy becomes dependent on that additional revenue to sustain itself, the tax increase rarely goes away. In 2010, Governor Sandoval stated that raising taxes is "the worst possible thing you can do" after a recession. His statement is as correct today as it was then — raising taxes on job creators is exactly the wrong thing to do in the aftermath of a recession. Entrepreneurs and job creators have been planning their investments on the promise that "temporary" rate hikes in the modified business tax and business license fees begun in 2009 would disappear next year. Let there be no mistake — proposing to reestablish a tax that is scheduled by law to disappear is a tax hike. After breaking his "no-new tax" promise to voters at the end of the 2011 legislative session, it is extremely disappointing for taxpayers to see Governor Sandoval break his promise again — 10 months before the legislative session even begins. The governor is correct in noting that the massive Medicaid expansion that ObamaCare seeks to impose on the states would mean a huge new state liability beginning in the next budget cycle, one that would only grow worse over the next decades. It was disingenuous for Congress and the president to pass such a huge entitlement expansion even though they had no willingness to fully fund it themselves and so levied a huge unfunded liability on the states. An econometric analysis performed by NPRI shows that ObamaCare, unless derailed by the U.S. Supreme Court or through the legislative process, will cost the state of Nevada at least an additional $5.4 billion in Medicaid costs by 2023. That's due to the compulsory loosening of eligibility requirements and the individual mandate provision, which — taking effect in 2014 — will begin undercutting the state's ability to finance education and other services. This reality is precisely why NPRI has been critical of ObamaCare from its inception. Even in the face of ObamaCare's costs, however, Governor Sandoval was not compelled to expose the struggling Silver State economy to the prospect of higher taxes. Just last week, NPRI released an 88-page guide for cutting costs using proven techniques already implemented in other states. Solutions 2013 explicitly recognizes the impending new Medicaid burden that would be imposed by ObamaCare, but shows how to reduce spending in other areas to offset this liability without sacrificing quality. The governor and his staff should use the ideas in this publication to decrease costs while increasing results, rather than again break his pledges to state taxpayers and prospective job creators. The rising costs of ObamaCare should be the impetus to transform state government by creating charter agencies, establishing performance audits, outsourcing agency functions competitively, eliminating the billions wasted through prevailing-wage requirements, and by giving parents a choice in their children's schooling. It should not be used as a weak excuse for raising taxes on struggling Nevada families.
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