Letter: Casinos put strain on government services

Tuesday, Nov. 20, 2007 | 7:40 a.m.

A broad-based business tax targets whom? Please refresh my memory because I forgot who usually pays taxes here and across America. For the most part, taxes roll downhill.

Tax business and eventually the majority of that tax is incorporated into what a consumer pays for the product or service. If the tax is not directly reflected in what a consumer pays then it comes in the form of lower wages.

The advantage of a broad-based income tax is that it gores everyone's ox and the tax is somewhat hidden from the individual taxpayer. Here in Nevada there is a special situation. This is the hotel room and gaming tax.

Not every state or local jurisdiction, in fact few if any, has a quarter of a million people, about 20 percent of its total adult population, invading its territory every day of the year. And yes, some of our visitors are not highly desirable individuals. This is why our hotels and casinos require special tax consideration.

While hotels and casinos employ a great number of people directly and indirectly, they also create a disproportionate need for government services when compared to nontransient service industries like banking or software development. Our gaming industry's government-services support requirements are intensive and run the gamut from infrastructure, such as highways and transportation, to increased security.

In this country and in our county it is unlikely we will ever be able to return to a simpler one-tax-fits-all situation, not as long as we have a democracy. Politicians will always target votes, and voters will always want favors.

As for Nevada's gaming industry, the taxation issue isn't about killing the goose that lays the golden eggs. It is about keeping the goose alive and not producing platinum at taxpayers' expense.

Richard Rychtarik, Las Vegas