LETTERS: County pays freight for whole state

To the editor:

In the Oct. 1 Review-Journal, the headline on the brief read, “Taxable sales increase in July again …” but more appropriately could have read, “Sales tax surges in Clark County, rest of state lags,” or maybe “Come on rest of Nevada, keep up.”

As reported, Clark County’s sales increased by $230 million, from $2.67 billion a year earlier to $2.9 billion. The entire state’s sales increased from $3.77 billion a year earlier to $4.0 billion — also a $230 million gain. So all of the increase was in Clark County.

At least this is better than the results reported in the April 30 Review-Journal article, “Sales tax surges in Clark County, state.” Clark County’s sales increased $260 million from the year before, and the entire state’s sales increased by $150 million. That means Clark County sales increased by $260 million, while the rest of the state’s sales decreased by $110 million.

And now, Clark County is paying for most of the largess going to the Tesla Motors battery factory near Reno.

It’s well-known that the Las Vegas area contributes a significant portion of the state’s budget, while barely getting crumbs in return, but now it seems as though the rest of the state isn’t even trying. Where’s the fairness? When are Southern Nevada’s representatives going to stop squabbling among themselves and actually try to help the people they were elected to represent?

STANLEY LINKEN

HENDERSON

Shades of gray in NLV

To the editor:

Handling city issues that involve the private matters of elected officials isn’t a gray area (“Spokesman handles fallout,” Thursday Review-Journal). Isaac Barron’s private rental business is completely separate from his role as a North Las Vegas councilman.

Mitch Fox, the city’s communications director, doesn’t seem to know when a controversial issue is not city business and doesn’t require a news conference by the city. All that was required by the city in this case was a courteous “no comment.” At least residents can be grateful that Mr. Fox said he wouldn’t make such a decision for marital issues of city officials. Perhaps the financially challenged city of North Las Vegas hired the wrong person to handle the media.

TOM O’FARRELL

BOULDER CITY

Margins tax

To the editor:

Steve Sebelius, with his dissent from the majority opinion of the Review-Journal’s editorial board, once again shows why he is the only sane person on that board (“A strong minority dissent on The Education Initiative,” Oct. 1 Review-Journal). It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that the business community will never approve a tax increase that they will have to pay, even though the business community would benefit the most from that tax money.

The single biggest drag on attracting new businesses to Nevada and growing the established businesses is the lack of a well-educated and trained workforce. Nevada ranks third in the nation in having the best business tax climate, yet it ranks only 29th (up from 47th) in having the best overall business climate. That should tell you that businesses look at more than just taxes in determining where to locate.

The biggest reason Nevada’s business climate ranks so low overall is its dismal education system (49th). For years now, the Chicken Littles on the Review-Journal’s editorial board have been claiming that the sky is going to fall every time they hear “tax increase.” Frankly, it’s getting a little old.

Yes, money alone is not going to cure our education system. And yes, the margins tax is a horrible tax idea. But this is what we get when we refuse to confront the issue. If the editorial board members would get on board with a well-thought-out and fair (i.e. both a corporate and individual income tax) plan, instead of crying in their beer over the mention of a tax increase, maybe we wouldn’t have 50 million bad tax initiatives on our ballots, and this state could move forward for a change.

RICHARD PRATT

LAS VEGAS

Ryder Cup rage

To the editor:

Many thanks to sports columnist Ed Graney for his great article on the Ryder Cup. He was right on in his assessment of the tournament (“If U.S. isn’t winning Ryder Cup, Americans aren’t watching,” Oct. 2 Review-Journal). Most of the American players should be ashamed to show their faces on home soil. Our two youngsters were the shining lights of the whole tournament.

I was so embarrassed to watch the play on the first and second days that I did not watch the final day. I look forward to this tournament every two years, and just resent having to watch poor play again. I hope Phil Mickelson reamed out everybody who came for a vacation and not to play professional golf. These men are all highly paid professionals, but it seldom showed up in their matches. Maybe I should start rooting for Europe.

ANN P. SKALL

LAS VEGAS