Letter: Neal's tax proposal is without merit

Both men agree that the resort industry "is the principal engine of our growth." Since when? The gaming industry is the engine of nothing. It creates, produces and contributes nothing in Nevada. The industry exists to exploit the gaming market. It is the market, not the industry, that is the "engine of our growth."

Mr. Bunker slips up and acknowledges that the tourists are the ones "paying the taxes that fund our government." He then goes back to standard propaganda claiming the industry pays 50 percent of Nevada's tax bill, far more than its "fair share." That is ridiculous.

He then offers the resort association's newest song that other industries aren't paying their "fair share." The problem is that in our economic system no industry pays anything in taxes. It is the market that pays.

We finally get to the one point Mr. Bunker makes that is valid. Sen. Neal's desire to raise the gaming tax to 11.25 percent is lunacy. It is an act of frustration, if not petulance, on the part of Sen. Neal who has been constantly thwarted by the industry at all turns. Sen. Neal seems to be willing to cripple and sacrifice our gaming market, thereby doing irreparable harm to us all just to get "payback" on an industry that certainly deserves a good solid smack across the head.

Sen. Neal's proposal is terrible policy. I hope all Nevadans can understand the difference between the market and an industry. I also hope they reject the gaming tax petition.

KNIGHT ALLEN

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