Carson City should stay out of our refrigerators

To the editor:

Another silly idea from Nevada Assembly Democrats (“Legislator urges junk food tax,” Saturday Review-Journal). Assemblyman Harvey Munford, D-Las Vegas, has come up with another tax increase to try to put off the inevitable cuts needed in the state budget.

This time it’s a “junk food tax.”

This is a typical Democrat Party idea. Mr. Munford wasn’t sent to the Legislature to tell us how or what to eat or to tell us our kids are too fat. He’s there to fill the potholes and keep the bridges safe, not to raise our taxes.

Like the rest of us, state government needs to be looking for ways to trim back to the basics. Lawmakers need to be looking for more cuts in government, not expanding the role of state government into our refrigerators.

Under Mr. Munford’s plan, will we need a state junk food czar to determine what is “junk food”? Any good czar, of course, needs a staff to help administer the next intrusion on our freedom. How about food police? Surely you’ll need them.

Mr. Munford, please stay out of our refrigerators.

James Magnuson

Las Vegas

Regressive tax

To the editor:

Nevada Assemblyman Harvey Munford, D-Las Vegas, has proposed a 5 percent tax on “junk food.” Mr. Munford, vice chairman of the Assembly Taxation Committee, stated he is trying to “find new revenue,” so “why not tax junk food and other such discretionary spending that contributes to obesity?” He wants to place the tax mostly on fast-food restaurants.

This proposal is a regressive tax that will take more money from poor and lower-income Nevadans. In addition, there is no evidence or study that shows this will reduce obesity.

Mr. Munford states that junk food has “no nutritional value.” That is also false.

This is the problem with our politicians today. They feel they know what is best for us, and they are trying to make the decisions for parents and individuals. In reality, it is just an excuse to tax us more. They would be more credible if every time they proposed a tax increase they also proposed a reduction in government spending.

Thank goodness Mr. Munford’s proposal has no chance of passing — especially in this time of high unemployment in this state

Michael O. Kreps

Las Vegas

Tax base

To the editor:

In response to the Sunday op-ed by Ron Knecht and Lynn Hetrick on the state budget:

The authors claim that excessive taxation, spending and regulation has devastated the private sector. Nevada has some of the lowest “public-sector taxing” in the nation and a very narrow tax base. The heaviest tax burden actually falls on the people, not the private sector, with one of the highest sales tax rates in the nation.

Mr. Knecht and Mr. Hettrick point to two of Nevada’s largest tax increases as evidence of excess public-sector spending and taxing.

It’s interesting that despite these record tax increases, Nevada’s per-pupil funding still ranked among the bottom five in the nation for the entire decade.

Why is private-sector unemployment so high? Is it because there has been a decrease in demand for some services? Are some private-sector employers laying off workers so their executives (administrators) can keep their jobs and bonuses?

Are some of these private-sector companies weighed down with excessive administrative costs, bonuses and perks?

Public-sector unemployment is much lower because the demand for public services has not declined. There are the same number of students, fires, crimes and licenses, and probably an increase in the demands on social services.

Why would anyone in Nevada object to charging foreign companies more to take gold from American federal land? Why would anyone object to huge international companies paying taxes in Nevada like they do in almost every other state in America?

These constant attacks on public employees are an attempt to divert attention away from the complete absence of shared sacrifice in Nevada. Rapid growth is expensive, and some powerful people do not want to pay their fair share for the new infrastructure that has been needed to catch up to our new population.

Jeremy M. Christensen

Las Vegas

Jobs issue

To the editor:

It is certainly distressing to see all those folks testifying before our state officials about how the budget cuts will make their lives more difficult. The needy and public employees are worried about reduced incomes — sad, very sad.

But sadder still is the plight of the private-sector taxpayer. You remember, the people who actually pay the taxes that support all these other folks. Income is down in our world, too. We’ve been forced to do with less, but that’s not good enough. Nope, some in Carson City want to pick our pockets clean.

Instead of looking for more ways to extort more taxes out of productive citizens, all of us would be better served if our elected officials did something, anything, about bringing more real jobs to the Silver State.

Bruce Feher

Las Vegas