Today, Republican gubernatorial candidate Dan Schwartz ripped into his primary opponent Adam Laxalt’s recently-announced education “plan” in an interview with the Reno Gazette-Journal. With Laxalt’s intent to repeal a key source of funding that provides nearly $400 million every two years to Nevada’s public schools, Schwartz joins many other Nevadans in wondering how Laxalt will pay for his proposals.
“Is Mr. Laxalt going to raise taxes?” [Schwartz] asked. “I’m suggesting he’s going to have to. As state treasurer, the numbers just don’t add up.”
Reno Gazette-Journal: Schwartz bashes Laxalt’s education plan, renews threats against Raiders stadium project
By James DeHaven
April 6, 2018
KEY POINTS
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Nevada Treasurer Dan Schwartz says Attorney General Adam Laxalt needs to check the math on his education platform.
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Schwartz, considered Laxalt’s top Republican rival for the governor’s seat, on Friday blasted his campaign foe’s newly unveiled plan to fix Nevada’s worst-in-the-nation education system, dismissing it as little more than “glittering generalities” presented without a funding blueprint.
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Laxalt, seen as the favored candidate among national Republican organizations and conservative mega-donors, said Wednesday he would seek to repeal a commerce tax adopted in 2015 under Gov. Brian Sandoval’s sweeping $1.1 billion education reform package.
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He plans to pay for that repeal, expected to cost $380 million over the next two years, in part through revenue from marijuana taxes.
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But Schwartz told the Reno Gazette Journal he doubts Laxalt can cover the cost of his education plan’s proposed raises, bonuses and reimbursements without a tax hike.
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“Is Mr. Laxalt going to raise taxes?” he asked. “I’m suggesting he’s going to have to. As state treasurer, the numbers just don’t add up.”
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A Laxalt campaign spokesman did not immediately return requests for comment on Schwartz’s criticisms.
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