KLAS-TV Channel 8 News Las VegasLocal Businesses and Leaders Talk Tax Increases
With the next legislative session right around the corner, lawmakers want to hear from businesses about a possible tax increase. Wednesday morning, some North Las Vegas business owners let one lawmaker know exactly what they think.
Everyday, hundreds of MedicWest paramedics load up to go to work. They are in the business of responding to emergencies and saving lives, and it is a business. One that MedicWest General Manager John Wilson must keep operating.
"Even ambulance service, which people think is recession proof, is affected by the fact that we have fewer visitors to the Strip," he said.
He says 20 to 30-percent of their patient volume comes off the Las Vegas Strip. Those trips make the company money and keep the 330 workers employed.
Wilson and two dozen other business managers and owners met at the North Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce to talk about the economy problem with Assembly Speaker Barbara Buckley.
"Times are tough. We all need to tighten our belts. I think that is the wrong approach. That is the wrong approach for Nevada," she said.
Buckley says we cannot cut our way out of the recession. She adds the tax base must be changed to get us out of this boom-or-bust business cycle we are in.
Wilson knows that may mean increasing taxes on all businesses. He and the other people in the room will concede on the tax issue, with some strings, "If we pay taxes, increased taxes, we want to have accountability. That is issue number one and issue number two is we do not want to be here again."
The North Las Vegas Chamber President and CEO Sharon Powers says her members all feel the same way, but any tax increase must be responsible, "You cannot tax or cut your way out of this. There has to be a look at the state as a whole."
To date MedicWest eliminated positions, some people went part time, but no one lost their job.
State lawmakers will discuss the state budget and what taxes to raise starting with the legislative session on February 2, 2009.
