We all pay for higher taxes on U.S. energy
To the editor:
Recent proposals coming out of Washington seeking to raise taxes on American oil and gas companies have me worried for our future economic health. The oil and gas industries employ about 1 million Americans while providing the affordable energy we need to power our homes and our businesses. Impose these tax hikes and we’ll see costs skyrocket across the board. This doesn’t just mean we will have to pay more at the pump — increasing taxes on energy companies means businesses will have less money to transport their goods, hire new workers or open a second store.
Many mistakenly believe that these tax increases will impact “Big Oil” more than smaller, family-owned businesses. The reality is these smaller companies will be taxed at the same rate as their larger counterparts, but are significantly less able to absorb such a sharp increase in cost.
Why would we aim to harm U.S. industry at a time when our economy is barely limping along? We should be doing everything we can to encourage these companies to reinvest back into their communities and provide our country with energy stability that’s too often taken for granted. Eliminate these proposed tax hikes on our energy industry, and we’ll ensure our country remains on the path to prosperity and energy independence.
MAUREEN KARAS
LAS VEGAS
Stand up to NRA
To the editor:
The inaction of our Congress regarding gun control is pathetic. Our elected officials aren’t concerned with public safety. They should be calling for common-sense reforms addressing the epidemic of gun violence in the United States. Instead, what do they do? They cower like children in the presence of the powerful National Rifle Association.
Right now the NRA has Congress in its pocket. Re-election is more important than the safety of our citizens. Nobody in Washington is willing to step up against the NRA, even though they realize the agenda of the NRA is to sell more guns, regardless of how many Sandy Hook-style tragedies are in our future. But this will change because the power of the NRA won’t prevail.
I’m of an age that I remember Sen. Joe McCarthy. He was another powerful nutcase who saw communists everywhere. No one was willing to oppose him, even though people with any intelligence knew what he was doing was wrong. Sen. McCarthy had a big fall once people began standing up to his craziness.
The same fate awaits the NRA. Within four years, the NRA will fall, and people will pull their heads out of the sand and stand up to the NRA’s rhetoric. Let’s just hope this comes about before too many more school-shooting tragedies happen.
WILSON J. MATOS
LAS VEGAS
North Korea and Obama
To the editor:
Wayne Brotherton’s Sunday letter, “North Korea does not fear Obama,” was ridiculous and shows he knows nothing about world affairs. Because the Review-Journal printed the letter, it makes me wonder if you know just as little.
President Barack Obama knows there is nothing to fear from North Korea. Just like Libya, who was always threatening America, North Korea is all talk and no action. Its diminutive leader is big hat, no cattle.
Anyone with any knowledge of world affairs knows China furnishes most of the food and supplies that keep North Korea afloat. China wants a world of peace, and it will never allow North Korea to do anything to create war. The Chinese know Kim Jong Un is all bluster, and if they ever thought he’d do anything, they would privately eliminate him.
President Obama, Secretary of State John Kerry and China all know this, and Mr. Obama is smart enough to let China handle it. China will handle it.
ROBERT STANELLE
LAS VEGAS
