Across the valley today, politically and economically aware Las Vegans are celebrating. No, they’re not marking the 63rd anniversary of the explosion of our first experimental atomic bomb in the deserts around Alamogordo, N.M. And no, they’re not congratulating former U.S. Attorney General Dick Thornburgh on both his 76th birthday and his willingness to attack his fellow Republicans for the rash of politically motivated prosecutions in the Department of Justice.

Instead, some of them are celebrating July 16 as Cost of Government Day, or the day of the year when we’ve finally earned enough to pay for the wasteful federal, state and local tax burdens placed on us by our government and corporate masters. For years, the nonpartisan Citizens Against Government Waste has cheered this annual emancipation - although they do warn that rising federal spending has pushed Cost of Government Day deeper into the calendar each year. Last year, it was held on July 12. In 2000, Cost of Government Day fell on June 30. These guys at CAGW have a point.

Some might ask what do we Nevadans have to bitch about — at least concerning state tax burdens. We don’t pay state income taxes here, after all. And the state and local taxes we do pay, such as sales tax, property tax and various business taxes, can’t be honestly called a burden, since we take great pride in funding our public and social services at near-Third World levels.

Turn your fire on Washington, some say for your ever-lengthening indentured servitude. Under President George W. Bush, the government has already spent $2.2 trillion so far this federal fiscal year, which end Sept. 30. His spending plans for fiscal 2009? You don’t want to know. (OK, you probably do, so go here.)

Coupled with the tax breaks for the rich that he ushered in years ago (tax breaks which U.S. Sen. John McCain now wants to make permanent - in shades of John Kerry, McCain says he voted against them before he voted for them), the $17.2 billion in federal pork spending (of which our men - and woman - in Washington are responsible for $449.6 million) and the national housing meltdown which administration and Wall Street regulators knowingly allowed, Bush & Co. have left our economy in tatters. As a result of this administration’s efforts, our economy is less stable than a Strip sex crime victim, left addled and sweating on the side of the road while the in-crowd party rolls on through the night.

So, go ahead, Las Vegas! Celebrate Cost of Government Day by going out to the mall and buying yourselves something special. That is, if you can still afford the gas to drive there.