Last week, Democrat Assemblywoman Peggy Pierce proposed a monstrous new tax on some of Nevada’s largest job creators and generators of sales tax revenue and I haven’t seen a single statement of opposition, let alone outrage, from any Republican organization in the state – not the Nevada GOP, any of the county GOPs, not the GOP assembly caucus, not the GOP senate caucus.
Nor have I seen a statement or op/ed from the Retail Association refuting some of the fantastical and totally unsubstantiated wild claims Pierce made about retailers on Jon Ralston’s Face-to-Face program – especially the claim that retailers are sitting on a trillion dollar pot-of-gold instead of spending it to hire more people.
Or an explanation for the legitimate point raised by Ralston that advertised prices for the same product from big box chains are the same in Nevada as other states with a corporate income tax. Does that mean Nevada is subsidizing lower prices in other states rather than benefiting from our low-tax environment? Shouldn’t Nevadans be rewarded for keeping taxes low on these big box stores instead of penalized? Inquiring minds wanna know.
As for the Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce, its representative basically offered “no comment” when questioned about business taxes on F2F, hiding behind the spin position that they’re waiting to see the governor’s budget before taking a position on business tax hikes. She did, however, take pride in reminding everyone that the Chamber came to the table in the last session and caved in to a doubling of business license fees and the employee head tax.
Chickens.
Feel free to join the Chamber if you like the socials or the group health insurance options; however, if you want a business organization that will fight from beginning to end any proposals to raise taxes on businesses, check out the new Nevada Business Coalition. We don’t have to wait to see Gov.-elect Sandoval’s budget to declare war on Assemblywoman Pierce’s proposed tax hike.
