Letter: Increased taxes will hit all of us

Thursday, Feb. 27, 2003 | 10:01 a.m.

In 1764 King George and the British parliament passed a series of taxes starting with the Sugar Act in order to tax the colonists in the Americas to finance the British military expeditions in Europe and the rest of the world.

The best known of these "tax acts" was the Tea Act of 1773. The battle cry of that time was "no taxation without representation." Well, we know what the outcome of that was. Unwanted taxes did more to create the United States of America than any one event in our years as a British colony.

The latest taxes proposed by Gov. Kenny Guinn, according to most polls, are not being accepted very well by the people of Nevada. Any gross receipts tax placed on business will eventually be passed on to the consumer. What we need to understand is that as that tax is passed on as increased prices, sales revenue is increased and thus the business pays more tax and that is passed on to us and the spiral continues upward. The only one who benefits is the king.

And that's only the gross revenue tax. Don't think the employee head tax won't get passed along too. These taxes are not taxes on businessmen, as the king would have you believe. These are taxes that will reach deep into the pockets of everyone.

While Gov. Guinn had no meaningful opposition in the election, he did air a few commercials. The cornerstone of those commercials was that the governor was able to balance the budget without raising taxes. That's what the public heard before the election. We all know what we are hearing now.

Today we have representation. Our representatives should listen to the people, read their mail and e-mail and respond accordingly. I am sure the king anxiously awaits our response.

Did I say king?

STEVE BOUGON