Letter: Quality of life, low taxes are lure

Wednesday, July 23, 2003 | 8:47 a.m.

I read the liberal rantings of columnist Jon Ralston in the July 20 Las Vegas Sun. He was angry and filled with grief because our legislators fought against a billion-dollar tax increase. His closing comment made me laugh uncontrollably. This "worst legislative performance in history," he wrote, is "sending a backward state even further back and ensuring that Nevada is secure in its position as a national laughingstock."

Did liberals like Ralston just happen to miss the recent news that thousands of people a month continue to move into Nevada? Or that Nevada is still the fastest-growing state? Or that Clark is the fastest-growing county? That Henderson and North Las Vegas are two of the three fastest-growing cities? That Nevada housing starts are No. 1 in the country? That we rate No. 1, or close to it, in every ranking of the best states to do business in?

If quality of life is so inferior in Nevada, why are 100,000 people a year running away from high-tax, big-spend states like New York, New Jersey, California and Oregon to move here? Why are they leaving states with more libraries, higher-paid teachers, better benefits for the elderly and disabled, and supposedly "better quality of life?"

Could it be the low taxes? Could it be they like the quality of life here, exactly how it is?

WAYNE ALLYN ROOT