Letters to the editor

It's time to develop a state income tax

I would like to add my support to a letter several days ago about creating a state income tax. When are we going to get our heads out of the sand? To my way of thinking the tax sources we have in place currently are not going to sustain all the services we currently have in place and demand.

First, with all the competition from Indian casinos and casinos in other states, we will not get the revenue we have in the past from our casinos.

Second, I realized about 10 years ago that we could not go on consuming all the junk and things we think we can't live without forever. The debt people were piling up was bound to burst, and I don't feel sorry for the banks who enticed people into spending. Those of us who are seniors and lived through the second World War with deprivations and rationing understand being happy without huge houses, the newest car and all the contraptions advertising tells us we need. And an aside " all the junk we discard is not good for the environment which is going to cost us to clean up.

Third, things are not going to get back to the way they were. We need to learn to live with less, and perhaps consider having smaller families we can afford. I know someone will want to run me out of town on a rail for saying that.

I strongly believe we should start working on an income tax structure which, I understand, takes many years. In the interim find some other way to get tax revenue to tide us over.

DORRINE SADILEK

Carson City

In tough times, tough people prevail

I enjoyed the guest commentary from Skip Bagby. As a retired oil explorationist, I couldn't agree with his article more regarding America being self-sufficient in oil. If not for the tree huggers and the extreme environmentalists that seemed to set out to shut down oil production in the United States, we would have an abundance of oil for the next 100 years. History has shown that nothing will ruin the economy more than "greenies," as they are known around the world, that aspire to shut down the industries of oil, timber, mining and fishing.

These are tough times, but tough people will find a way to make it through. I sympathize with the college students facing the financial cuts; however, when I went to college, the only way to get financial aid was athletic scholarships or the G.I. Bill. There are many more opportunities out there now, so perhaps they could look for them and/or a part-time job.

Mr. Bagby's article hit on several topics that, to me, really hit the nail on the head. Too bad you aren't a politician, Skip. We could use you.

JIM FERGUSON

Minden

This is no time for laggards, misoneists

I read the story in the Nevada Appeal regarding Storey County's concerted efforts to stop the development of wind energy in the county with a sense of stunned disbelief.

It seems to me that county officials are more concerned with trying to continue a capricious and unreliable fund source (tourism), rather than look to the future. Isn't it our state's precarious reliance on a single income source " tourism " the root of many of our fiscal problems in the first place?

Besides, who's to say that windmills wouldn't be a source of tourism themselves? Who's to say that Storey County " and the rest of the state " can't become world leaders in wind, solar and other alternative energy research and development? Build the windmills and the concomitant technology " people, jobs and spending will come with them.

Along that vein, who truly believes Yucca Mountain won't go forward? Our politicians are either Pollyannas or grandstanders and throwing money away fighting it. The federal government has spent billions building it. Fiscal responsibility will dictate a response to the lawsuit of "we hear your objections, but we will go forward."

We should accept it's going to happen, and be bargaining hard for world-class research and development facilities funded by the federal government to go along with it.

We as a state spend too much time and effort fighting the future instead of embracing it. Change will happen. If we accept and embrace change, we could be out of our financial difficulties much quicker and be positioned for a leadership position in the United States and the rest of the world.

Let's reverse our position as laggards. Let's reverse our position as misoneists (a person fearful of change). Let's move to the future instead of maintaining the present. Let's not be the buggy whip industry.

STEVE LANG

Carson City