When you're a newly elected governor hemmed in by a no-new-taxes pledge, you'll try just about anything to meet funding needs without violating your ill-conceived promise. Thus Nevada Governor Jim Gibbons, who won't stand for a gas tax hike to close the state's $3.8 billion transportation funding shortfall, but has said he think the state can get "pretty doggone close" to closing this shortfall by.... selling off water rights beneath Nevada state highways.
In a national context, this is an unremarkable assertion-- more of the same "selling the house in order to buy the groceries" schemes anti-tax leaders are using to get through the current fiscal year without breaking their promises. But as it turns out, this idea would fill only the tiniest fraction of the $3.8 billion hole: about $120 million at today's prices.
Looking for loose change under the cushions of your couch can be a productive thing to do-- but it's no substitute for long-term planning. And as Governor Gibbons is finding out, sometimes it's not enough even in the short run.
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