Save the bureaucracy — just raise taxes!

To the editor:

Can we please raise our state taxes? Every public employee laid off equates to another home foreclosure in six months. The programs cut will adversely affect those people who need them the most in times of recession.

The only fair solution is to raise taxes on everyone in the state.

A penny increase in the sales tax will not be noticed by anyone; a 10-cent increase in the gasoline tax will not cause people to stop driving; a 10 percent surcharge on our property taxes will be hard but not be difficult. Then let's legalize marijuana consumption and tax the drug like cigarettes, legalize pornography and prostitution, and tax and regulate it.

We know how to manage and profit from the sinful natures of others.

Ronald Vormwald

Henderson

You say you want a ...

To the editor:

Jane Ann Morrison's Saturday column noted that the state of Nevada contributes a sum equal to 10.5 percent of a worker's salary into a retirement account. Isn't that nice.

So on a salary of $100,000, we the people are contributing $10,000-plus to the retirement of state workers.

This is completely out of line with the private sector. I can smell revolution in the air.

Mike Bryant

Las Vegas

Fire calls

To the editor:

In response to the Tuesday story, "Chief: Be aware of perceptions": Las Vegas Fire Department Chief Greg Gammon is missing the true public concern.

The chief e-mailed staff, suggesting firefighters take steps to improve public perception. He dissuades them from spending time at the gym while on duty, mentioning that fire trucks parked at the gym are a top public complaint.

I often encounter on-duty firefighters at the gym or grocery store. I understand the job entails long periods of inactivity between stressful and often dangerous emergencies. I view the presence of firefighters in public places when duties allow as a benefit to the community.

The real public concern is that firefighters and other public servants enjoy wages and benefits that are superior to those made by the public they work for. That does not make a lot of sense in the best of economic times, and creates a formula for public resentment as government, family and corporate financial health continue to decline.

As one of many private-sector employees who has suffered diminished pay, benefits and disappearing retirement (not to mention those without jobs), I have little sympathy for $110,000-a-year public servants who see two years of 8 percent pay cuts as an unacceptable hardship. I'm still trying to figure out how wage cuts would increase response times and endanger the public.

With about 84 percent of the Fire Department budget dedicated to wages and benefits, it's difficult to see where else cuts could be made.

I fully respect and appreciate our valley's firefighters. But when local governments and taxpayers are suffering financially, it is unreasonable for firefighters to be insulated from economic realities.

But regardless of how the budget is reconciled, I hope firefighters will be able to work out at the gym.

Richard Christy

Las Vegas

Legal matters

To the editor:

I feel compelled to correct some misleading information published in John Edwards' Feb. 12 article, "Investors told boss of lender can't pay."

The article is misleading with respect to Nevada State Bank's role in USA Capital President Joseph Milanowski's Chapter 11 involuntary bankruptcy proceedings. As the article points out, Nevada State Bank participated in the effort to force Mr. Milanowski into an involuntary bankruptcy.

However, the article incorrectly implies that the bank joined forces with Milanowski-controlled entities and "forced Milanowski into Chapter 11 bankruptcy, which allowed him to continue business operations."

This is false. In fact, Nevada State Bank did not allow Mr. Milanowski to continue operating his business.

The bank, as one of the largest unsecured creditors of USA Commercial and Mr. Milanowski, was asked by other creditors to join them in jointly, and successfully, petitioning the bankruptcy court for an order placing Mr. Milanowski in involuntary bankruptcy. The petitioners were all creditors of Mr. Milanowski, and none, including Nevada State Bank, was controlled by Mr. Milanowski.

The purpose of these efforts was to impose the authority of the bankruptcy court over Mr. Milanowski and his assets as part of a larger effort to determine the location and flow of investor funds.

The truth is that the bank sided with people seeking to recover their lost investments in USA Capital and that Nevada State Bank has been part of the solution to this problem. I know Nevada State Bank welcomes the opportunity to assist the Review-Journal with its coverage and would be happy to provide additional insight and clarification in future articles that may involve the bank and this case.

Bradley N. Boodt

Las Vegas

The writer is local attorney who represents Nevada State Bank in the USA Capital case.