Under the cover of darkness (OK, late last Friday night) Nevada politicians slipped a 7-cent increase in the state diesel tax into an unrelated bill. The state construction associations like the idea because the extra money will be used to fund road infrastructure.
I can’t fault the state for trying to build and maintain its roads. But the underhanded methods are disappointing. This is how our taxes from all segments of government got to be so high in the first place. Politicians won’t raise the gasoline tax, fearing voter disapproval, so they craft a regular stream of sleigh of hand taxes and fees that fall mostly on businesses and yet come back to bite the public anyway in the form of higher costs for goods and services.