Letters for July 24, 2003
Our family owns All Star Rents in Sparks. The possibility of a gross receipts/income tax is most disturbing. This proposed new tax will be disruptive to our business, discourage economic growth and will greatly handicap our business with increased paperwork and reporting requirements. The establishing of a Nevada IRS bureau to collect this tax will create a large and costly bureaucracy to determine the revenue and profits of all Nevada business. Yes, Nevada needs to raise tax money for operations, but the income tax is not the way.
A payroll tax would be the most efficient way to raise revenue. The payroll tax fits the definition of a “broad based business” tax better than any other tax plan because all businesses would pay it. It is the easiest to implement of all the tax proposals and can be collected without any additional administrative costs. The employer, not the employee would pay a low percentage of their employees wages capped at $21,500. Since this tax is capped it does not discourage an employer from paying a higher salary. The payroll tax grows with the economy unlike the “head tax.” The head tax could be eliminated because the payroll tax should raise enough revenue. This new payroll tax grows with the economy unlike the head tax. Other taxes will not have to be raised when we encounter a fiscal crisis.
Ken de Vries
Sparks
We’re all artists
Re “Bad art” [RN&R, Arts & culture, June 12]:
All the pot shots at everyone else’s efforts—jealousy? There’s room for all artists. My son is also an artist. He drew on every blank piece of paper from age 2.
And as to [Paul] Mellender’s bragging about his discourtesy to his high school art teacher, perhaps his consciousness level needs more altering.
B. Lilly
Reno
You stop your whining
Re “Quit your whining” [RN&R, Letters, July 10]:
James Kadokan’s letter was simplistic, bordering on idiotic. He must have his head in the sand if he thinks the policies of the Bush regime have no affect on the middle class of our country. If you look into the complexities of the issues, you can see that the current system is set up so that a person can spin his wheels and never get out of a rut. Bush and cronies have succeeded in exporting jobs, deregulating pension funds, inflating medical insurance premiums and drug costs and in lowering student financial aid—in addition to trying to make overtime pay illegal. In the meantime, the wealthy have outrageous tax loopholes as well as offshore bank accounts.
The ones who benefit the most from the “American Dream” are those who are expected to sacrifice the least. It’s time to “strap on our courage” and re-claim our democracy!
Everyone needs a hand up at some time in their lives. Hopefully, when Mr. Kadokan’s time comes, help will be there.
Hilda Gustafson
via e-mail
Preserve our past
I recently returned from visits to Paris and London. One senses, there, a feeling of history. Walking around downtown Reno, several days after returning, I passed the Mapes’ Hotel site. Can anyone responsible for the Mapes destruction explain why such an excellently designed and built hotel, the only building downtown that merited the title “class,” was destroyed while the ugly King’s Inn Casino still stands? There’s only one building downtown to equal the King’s Inn ugliness—the empty Woolworth’s building.
Eric Woodfield
Reno
The rich get richer
Re “Bush gives to the rich” [RN&R, Letters, July 10]:
I had to write this letter. I totally agree with the letter, “Bush gives to the rich.” To be blunt, I believe that President George W. Bush is trying to steal workers’ overtime pay and turn this country into a right-to-work (slave) nation.
Long ago, the French had a revolution because the rich had cake, but the poor could barely afford bread. The result of this inequity was a revolution that swept away an old order and created a new one. Bush’s policies are only sowing the seeds for an economic revolution that will cause an upheaval across our social structure.
During the administration of George Bush Sr., I was young, trying to enter the workforce, eager and willing to take a job. Instead, I had to learn how to survive on welfare and food stamps. Now during the administration of George Bush Jr., I am again looking for work and living on unemployment. The more things change, the more they remain the same. “Read my lips.” I have never forgotten.
Wendy Fisk
Reno