Kiss Your Assets Goodbye?

(Also at OC Progressive)

I must say it's been interesting seeing "what happens in Vegas" in the last month. However, I don't really get this.

Are California’s lawmakers pigs?

A new video campaign designed to draw businesses unhappy with California to relocate to Southern Nevada portrays lawmakers as morphing into pigs.

It is being launched by Nevada Development Authority, which has tried other ad campaigns in the past with the same goal, but not featuring the actions of the California Legislature.

The NDA says it’s sure many California businesses are considering relocation due to the state's current troubles.

The campaign stresses that business owners pay no corporate or personal income tax in Nevada and have much lower workers' compensation rates.

According to The Las Vegas Sun, our local ABC station (KABC 7) has already refused to run any of the Nevada Development Authority ads. (Btw, The Sun also has all the ad videos should you want to watch them.) I wouldn't be surprised if more California stations also turn down these ads. While it may be a great PR stunt to lure businesses from one troubled state to another, it does both a great disservice.

Why? It continues to push the false meme of "overtaxed businesses needing to flee California". It's offensive enough for the NDA to call California lawmakers "pigs" and "monkeys", but I'm even further offended by their lack of knowledge on the real reasons why the state is failing. All they had to do was read here or Calitics to see that corporate tax loopholes, property tax laws that favor big corporations, 2/3 budget rules, and other fiscal deforms are the culprits bringing the state down! Trust me. I just moved here from California, so I know what's really wrong with the state.

And frankly, they're not doing Nevada a favor, either. Yes, I said it. Nevada is also victim to a failed tax structure that depends on regressive sales taxes (especially in times like these with casino revenue down) as the big corporations enjoy even more tax loopholes and the mining industry pays virtually no taxes! Nevada has suffered massive budget woes this year, so it baffles me why the state development agency would want to continue on this failed path by begging businesses to come here and perpetuate what's throwing us into fiscal chaos.

So kiss my assets goodbye? Nope, more like I'd rather not kiss a fool by buying into this unsustainable model of "no bidness taxes". It doesn't work in California and it doesn't work in Nevada, and both states really need to rethink their fiscal thinking.