Believe it: Everybody pays some taxes
To the editor:
After reading Jan Gilbert's Saturday letter ("On the dole? You shouldn't be allowed to vote"), I had to wonder who precisely was the target of such vitriol.
Everyone pays taxes of one sort or another - sales taxes when purchasing most items, gasoline taxes when buying fuel, property taxes when paying a mortgage or rent, government service taxes when registering a vehicle, and a variety of taxes when paying utility and phone bills, just to name a few.
To suggest that some people are paying no taxes is incorrect and ignorant of the facts.
Rather than continue to drive wedges among the residents of our nation, we should be searching for ways to work together to solve the problems our nation faces. Stop falling for the fictions created by special interests that prevent us from seeing the truth.
Joel Rector
Las Vegas
Big spenders
To the editor:
The Southern Nevada Water Authority might want to re-examine its priorities.
Twice in the past week, we received in the mail from the authority extensive and expensive information regarding Nevada water reports, studies, etc. Several pages were included, and I must wonder why. I didn't read the publications, and I wonder if any if the almost 1 million recipients did so.
Do members of the public really want to know all of these details - written and edited on expensive paper stock, etc. - while at the same time having their bills skyrocket?
Eileen Schenck
Las Vegas
Insurance costs
To the editor:
In response to Ron Coleman's Monday letter to the editor regarding how great it is that the Supreme Court ruled in favor of ObamaCare:
Politics aside, I would like to advise both Mr. Coleman and everyone else of a few facts:
1. Insurance rates for young folks will be going up. The new law will not allow insurance companies to set rates using risk assessments. Because younger folks have a lower risk, they may pay a lower premium at the present time. This will no longer be the case.
2. Lower-income folks may go on Medicaid if they can prove they can't afford their employer-based insurance. You will lose your current doctor and will be told which doctors will be approved for Medicaid.
3. If you own a small business (50 employees or less) and you can't afford to offer insurance, or your employees can't afford to buy it, you will be fined. Yet, your employees still will not have insurance.
4. If you work for a large company and can't afford to buy the insurance they offer, you will be fined - and yet, you still won't have insurance.
5. If you are elderly and participate in Medicare Advantage, that is going away. You will also likely lose your current doctor.
6. Since people cannot be turned away because of pre-existing conditions and can't be charged more (remember, no more fixing rates by risk assessment) we will all pay higher premiums in order for those people to have insurance.
But I'm sure Mr. Coleman - as well as all the other believers in the religion of Big Government - already knew this. Or did they?
Al Garth
Las Vegas
Water vendors
To the editor:
It is a sad state of affairs when a person is arrested for accepting tips while giving away free water on the Strip ("Push to clean up Strip ensnares man," Saturday Review-Journal).
Although I agree that - due to our heavy influx of tourists - there must be some control of what happens on the Strip, it is ironic that this "water vendor" becomes the target. Meanwhile, the smut vendors go unscathed peddling their free nudie cards with a snap of the wrist, making most everyone uncomfortable as they try to enjoy the same Strip that the water vendor frequents.
If local officials don't want to address the real problems, put the arresting officers in our neighborhoods where we need them. As a city taxpayer, I object to using our highly trained and respected police officers for such menial tasks.
Jim Andreas
Las Vegas
