Wind power tax credit critical for Nevada
To the editor:
Congress should act immediately to extend the production tax credit for wind power. Nevada Sen. Harry Reid’s announcement last week that such action could occur before the November election was cause for cautious optimism.
Time is of the essence here. The break provides a 2.1-cent income tax credit for every kilowatt-hour of wind power generated. This isn’t a subsidy or a loan – it’s a tax credit. The credit is only earned after power has already been produced. But only wind power facilities completed by the end of this year are eligible for it.
Let’s say that an energy company is ready to break ground on a new wind farm today. If it’s completed in exactly five months, it won’t qualify for the production tax credit because it won’t operate before the end of 2012.
It’s no wonder that congressional inaction has already caused the pipeline of new wind farms to dry up. Navigant Consulting predicts that uncertainty about the future of the credit will lead to 10,000 lost jobs by the end of this year. And if it isn’t extended, there will be an additional 37,000 American jobs lost next year.
The credit enjoys broad bipartisan support, including the support of every member of the Nevada congressional delegation. And with good reason – it’s a good policy that has benefited the environment and helped create jobs here in the Silver State.
Sen. Reid should bring the extension of the production tax credit to a vote in the Senate as soon as possible, and Reps. Mark Amodei and Joe Heck should call on the Republican leadership in the House to also schedule a vote. Nevada jobs hang in the balance.
Tim Carlson
Las Vegas
Global warming?
To the editor:
Snow fell on the South Africa’s capital, Pretoria, during Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s visit there last week, the first snowfall in the city since 1968. When Washington, D.C., was snowed under the other year, it was proclaimed “weather”; when it’s hot in Middle America, it’s called “man-caused global warming.”
Remember that James Hansen, the scientific guru of that bloviating gasbag Al Gore, started his career as a young scientist in the 1970s by proclaiming a new ice age was imminent.
Snow that fell across most of South Africa was heavy enough to close some roads and border posts. Snow fell on Johannesburg for only the 23rd time in the last 103 years.
Another example of man-caused global warming!
Marc Jeric
Las Vegas
Harry, meet Hand
To the editor:
Sen. Harry Reid has a long history of making false accusations toward his political enemies. The truth does not matter. The intended results are what matter.
If Mitt Romney illegally paid no income taxes for 10 years, the IRS would have been after him the first year no taxes were paid. But, if Mr. Romney’s accounts followed the tax laws and paid what was required, I think Sen. Reid, who is a lawyer, needs a refresher course in the tax laws that Congress passed.
Sen. Reid should frame these famous words from legendary 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Learned Hand and place them next to his bathroom mirror so he can read them every morning before he heads out to embarrass Nevadans.
Judge Hand stated: “Anyone may arrange his affairs so that his taxes shall be as low as possible; he is not bound to choose that pattern which best pays the treasury. There is not even a patriotic duty to increase one’s taxes.”
In a separate ruling, he wrote: “Over and over again the courts have said that there is nothing sinister in so arranging affairs as to keep taxes as low as possible. Everyone does it, rich and poor alike and all do right, for nobody owes any public duty to pay more than the law demands.”
I would wager Sen. Reid follows Judge Hand’s advice when he prepares his tax return.
Jack Mowrey
Las Vegas
Features awards
To the editor:
We can all be proud of our Review-Journal, the top newspaper in Nevada. Its writers won four national awards from the prestigious Society for Features Journalism in the annual Excellence-in-Features Writing Competition (Sunday Review-Journal).
The four Review-Journal honorees are: movie critic Carol Cling in Arts and Entertainment Commentary; medical reporter Paul Harasim in Features Specialty Reporting; columnist Xazmin Garza in General Commentary; and former arts writer Steve Bornfeld in Arts and Entertainment Feature.
Our print media remain the most reliable, informative, trustworthy and thorough source of total news coverage. As a daily subscriber for more than 11 years, I say, “Kudos to the great Review-Journal!”
Clyde Dinkins
Las Vegas
Reviewing review
To the editor:
Please have your headline writers read farther than the first sentence of a review before they write a headline.
The headline “‘Neil Young Journeys’ proves a mostly pointless excursion” (Saturday Review-Journal) is taken only from the first sentence of the review. The third sentence of the review says the movie “is almost certainly more fulfilling than anything you’ve got lined up for the next 90 minutes.”
The grade given to the movie is only a C. The review suggests at least a B-.
Tony Macklin
Las Vegas