COMMENTARY: Attractive Nevada tax climate lures NFL’s Raiders, other enterprises

It’s official. The famous Oakland Raiders — one of the most storied franchises in sports history — are moving to Las Vegas!

What great news for Las Vegas. I never loved the public financing deal. I think the tourists got hosed with massive room taxes. I don’t believe anyone was there negotiating for the taxpayers.

But despite all of that, I’m thrilled to welcome the Las Vegas Raiders. I think NFL football will be great for Vegas. A grand slam home run. A touchdown in the final seconds. We just became a big-league town. Our image has been elevated and our property values just went up.

This news all comes at the same time the latest Census stats are out. Guess who is No. 1 in population growth?Vegas, baby!

Americans are running away from Chicago, Detroit, Baltimore and Cleveland. If this were a movie, it would be a horror film titled “Escape From Democrat-Controlled Cities!” Americans aren’t walking, they are running to Las Vegas.

Vegas was No. 1 by far in the percentage of population growth in 2016. But Nevada leads the pack in everything. Population growth, job growth, economic growth and, now … I’m guessing Las Vegas just became the only city in U.S. history to gain two major league sports franchises in one year’s time.

What’s in the water in Vegas? It’s so simple. Low taxes. Or in this case, no taxes.

Americans (and NFL teams) are voting for Las Vegas with their wallets. Business owners and homeowners are moving here every day. Heck, the billionaires are fighting with the millionaires to see who can get here faster. They’re bringing all their assets and high incomes with them. Because nothing is more important to smart people than allowing them to keep more of their own money.

All these smart and sharp business owners are moving here because Nevada has no personal income tax, no business income tax, no state capital gains tax, no state inheritance tax, and has one of the 10 lowest property tax rates in the nation.

Our blind, deaf and dumb politicians in Carson City are trying their best to ruin all that. But so far, we’re still winning — only because the Democrats running all the other cities are even dumber than our Democrats.

This is all about taxes (with sunshine, warm weather and the best restaurants in the world as contributing factors). In California, the government not only steals a ridiculous 13 percent or more from your income, the bureaucrats hound and harass you for life over money you don’t even owe.

How do I know? I moved away from high-tax California more than 15 years ago to zero-tax Nevada. During those 15 years, I’ve been hounded, harassed, attacked and intimidated by California’s IRS (the Franchise Tax Authority) almost annually. Even though I haven’t lived there in more than 15 years.

Can you imagine how bad it would be if I actually lived there?

In Las Vegas, it doesn’t matter if you make $40,000 per year, $400,000, or $4 million.

You owe nothing.

And best of all, because there’s no income tax, there’s no IRS-like tax authority to hound, harass, attack or intimidate you. No one from Nevada government has contacted me about my income in 15 years.

Think about this for a minute. Mark Davis, the owner of the formerly Oakland Raiders, just saved tens of millions of dollars in future taxes. And every one of his players just saved a significant portion of their income by moving from California to Nevada. Every NFL free agent will want to play here.

Over the course of a career, they’ll save millions of dollars.

Are you listening, President Trump? Congress? American taxpayers need the same tax cut as the owner of the now Las Vegas Raiders and his players.

The model is simple … Vegas, baby.

Wayne Allyn Root (Wayne@ROOTforAmerica.com) is a best-selling author and host of the nationally-syndicated “WAR Now: The Wayne Allyn Root Show” from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. daily at 790 Talk Now. His R-J column runs Thursday and Sunday.