LETTERS: Let counties keep taxes for education
To the editor:
Who’s fighting for our kids’ education in Carson City? Certainly not the representatives we elect from Clark County. Not one of them voted against the Tesla Motors deal at the recent special session.
The Tesla plant will provide new jobs for the Reno area, but at Clark County’s expense. Because of the tax breaks given to the company, there will not be enough tax revenue from Washoe and Storey counties to pay for schools for the new workers and their families. Where will the money come from? Clark County, of course.
For decades, Clark County has served as a piggy bank for the rest of the state. No wonder Gov. Brian Sandoval was all smiles when he announced the Tesla deal. He knows he can use more of the tax money from Clark County to support schools in the north and give Clark County less and less, because none of the representatives from here will object or care.
It’s time for our representatives to introduce a bill that will enable each county to keep its tax revenue for education and not send it to Carson City. The politicians in Carson City have no solution to our educational funding problem and are, indeed, part of the problem. Quality education requires local control of funding.
BOB MUELLER
LAS VEGAS
Democrats can’t lead
To the editor:
It’s fourth-and-10, and here come the Hail Mary political ads. I just received a four-page, full-color ad from my state assemblyman. My assemblyman is again expounding on how he and his party will make our lives better, fund education, reduce class sizes, increase pre-K enrollment and support full-day kindergarten.
I am left with a question that he can’t or won’t answer publicly: How?
The Democratic Party has held the majority in the Assembly since 1985, with the exception of 1999, when there was an even split between Democrats and Republicans, and one independent. Since 1985, Nevada has gone from 47th in the nation to 50th in education, and 53rd if you count the three U.S. territories. Dead last.
Nevada has one of the most powerful people in United States government in the form of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, and yet the Democrats can’t field a credible candidate for Nevada governor. Is it me, or for some reason, does it seem that Democrats couldn’t lead this state if we gave them a baton and pointed them in the right direction? Sorry Mr. Assemblyman, you won’t be getting my vote this year.
FREDRICK WILKENING
LAS VEGAS
Climate change
To the editor:
Numerous strident voices are telling us of the impending disaster caused by climate change, and a lot of people are convinced we need to take action to try to stop the change. Climate change is certainly real. It happens in cycles. We note the climate alarmists used to talk about “global warming.” But for the last 17 years, there has been no increase in global temperatures, so that term has quietly been dropped, and now the discussion is about “climate change.”
I am not a climate scientist, but I can read and note that surveys of some two-thirds of climate scientists find there is insufficient data to fully understand or even forecast climate changes. This was recently confirmed by Dr. Steven Koonin, former undersecretary for science in President Barack Obama’s Energy Department. Mr. Koonin suggests that the critical and unsettled question is: “How will the climate change over the next century under both natural and human influences?” He admits that the answer to that question is hard to find.
Apparently, the ocean water that covers most of our planet causes problems with the computer modeling of climate change. Oceans absorb huge amounts of carbon dioxide, as do trees and plants. Some people talk about the severe weather experienced around the world and blame it on climate change caused by carbon dioxide emissions. But my understanding is that there is no real evidence that weather has gotten more severe in recent decades.
The Obama administration is trying to impose new restrictions on power plants to reduce emissions. Such restrictions would be very expensive for consumers of electricity and could kill jobs. The federal government would also like to impose carbon taxes on industry. That would be enormously expensive for all of us and likely would accomplish so little that reduction in global temperatures would be unnoticed.
When we consider the impact of carbon dioxide emissions on climate, we really need to go slow on any costly policies. We don’t fully understand global climate change. We might just be blowing our money into the wind.
RICHARD N. FULTON
HENDERSON
