Sandoval’s policies could come back to bite him

Most of Nevada’s beleaguered taxpayers focus on the fact that Gov. Brian Sandoval broke his word not to raise taxes by not once, but twice raising the “temporary” tax increases approved in 2009; taxes that were supposed to “sunset” in 2011. But the governor also is responsible for another tax hike coming to Nevada e-shoppers everywhere on New Year’s Day.

Indeed, beginning Jan. 1, your purchases — which are made tax-free at Amazon.com — will be taxed, in addition to any shipping charges, thanks to some arm-twisting by Sandoval to get the company to collect the tax even though Nevada’s voters overwhelmingly rejected such an e-tax, not once, but twice at the ballot in 2008 and 2010.

So much for listening to the people. “It’s not fair that local businesses pay the (sales) tax and the Internet companies don’t,” state Taxation Director Chris Nielsen whined recently. Except local businesses don’t pay the tax. And neither will the online companies.

You will pay the tax!

The simple, unmistakable truth about this is that Amazon.com customers are about to get hosed and Nevada is about to enjoy an additional $16 million windfall of new tax revenue to spend on bigger government. Lovely.

In other news, this short blurb from a recent Politico story pretty much says it all:

“In a Republican Party that’s gone all out against Obamacare, Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval went all in. Sandoval is the only Republican governor whose state is both running its own health insurance exchange this year and expanding its Medicaid program under the health law. He’s arguably doing more to put the Democrats’ signature law into place than any other Republican. … States were supposed to run their own insurance exchanges but most GOP governors refused, forcing the feds to take on the job. Nevada is the only GOP-governed state running an exchange.”

Which raises a question: Can a moderate Democrat defeat Sandoval next year if conservative voters who are ticked off at him for raising taxes, giving driver’s licenses to illegal immigrants and leading the way on Obamacare implementation decide to vote for the Independent American Party or Libertarian Party candidate or vote “None of the Above”?

Maybe.

As you may recall, Republican Dean Heller only won his U.S. Senate race by around 12,000 votes last year … while the largely unknown IAP candidate hauled in almost 50,000 protest votes. And Heller had nowhere near the liberal record the governor has, especially on fiscal issues.

Sandoval is not yet the shoo-in that many are pretending him to be. With a 100,000 voter registration advantage, a credible, moderate Democrat could run close enough to have third-party and NOTA voters “spoil” Sandoval’s expected coronation. Long shot, to be sure. But not impossible.

Chuck Muth is president of Citizen Outreach, a conservative grass-roots advocacy organization. He can be reached at www.muthstruths.com.