Voting and early voting in Washoe County

OK here are the 3 simple steps  (4 including voting)

1)      You must register to vote by October 14^th (next Tuesday)  if you aren’t already registered.   You can register quickly online (it will tell you if you’re already registered)

https://nvsos.gov/sosvoterservices/Registration/step1.aspx  After you enter your information, it will warn you if you’re already registered and allow you to update your data.   I was able to change my mailing address to the office so I can receive ballot booklet here.

2)      Review your sample ballot.  you can go to http://www.washoecounty.us/voters  and type in your last name and birthday as shown here to get your sample ballot

3)      The “election” is on November 4^th.   But I would recommend not waiting. It is much better than waiting until Vote day – lots of flexibility.    “early voting”.   Early voting is easy in Nevada, and is available to every voter. Voters can vote at any location in their respective county where early voting is offered.   Why not pick a time and place below and put it on your calendar so you remember to do it?

Early voting offers the following benefits:

·         Makes voting more accessible to more citizens;

·         Increases voter participation rates;

·         Allows more accurate and efficient ballot counts;

·         Reduces administrative costs to the taxpayer; and

·         Creates a more informed and thoughtful electorate.

2014 Early Voting Dates The  General Election: November 4, 2014    Early voting is from  October 18, 2014 through October 31, 2014    graphic of the  Document below is also here:  http://nvsos.gov/Modules/ShowDocument.aspx?documentid=3493

Candidates to vote for: http://www.washoecounty.us/voters/14GENCandidates.html.  

Step 4

Please consider voting No on question 3

From: Jim Paschall
Sent: Thursday, October 09, 2014 9:28 AM
To: Darren McBride
Subject: RE: Question 3 the Margin Tax Vote. Here is one view of a very important vote a business owner I know shared with me.

If you would be willing to instruct me on how to vote against this, me and the guys will vote against this.

 

I don’t normally share political things.  But this margin tax initiative is very bad. I have one friend/business owner who plans to move his business if it passes.  After studying it I think it has the potential to significantly impact lots of low margin businesses (such as grocery stores), and of course, Sierra Computer Group and Highly Reliable Systems.  Taxing business Gross margin is much worse than an “income tax” because it’s not tied to profit.  We owe the tax whether we make profit or not and in a low margin business like ours it could force us to raise product prices (meaning even more customers will just buy from Dell and CDW as opposed to Sierra Computer Group).  But the real killer is labor.  For each hour of $100 computer service we bill, we currently make about $4 in profit (after paying the tech, overhead, insurance etc).  If the 2% margin tax passes I’m concerned the government would take $2 of this.  This tax has already been tried in Texas (it’s called Franchise tax there and is implemented at about 1%.  Nevada is proposing double that to 2%.  In Texas there have been very poor results. The Margin Tax would raise Nevada’s taxes on businesses to among the highest in the country.  If you have a different viewpoint, feel free to write it up and I’ll send it out as a counterpoint.   Thanks!  Darren

Educating our children is an extremely important part of society.  Nevada is, year over year, one of the bottom dwellers in the country for funding education.  This surely is not a highlight about living in this great state.    Question #3 on next months ballot, "The Education Initiative" tries to increase funding of our education system by imparting a tax on all business that have revenues of over one million dollars.  

In my opinion, this is a very irresponsible way of gaining the necessary funds to better our education system.  We need more money for education, that is a given, but we can do it in a much better way that can help rather then hinder our state.  Below I have copied a list of 10 reasons why this is very bad for our state.  

Obviously all of you guys can make your own mind up on which way to vote and this is in no way trying to sway you in one way or another, I am just trying to show some of the facts and possible unintended consequences such a tax would have on both our state and our economy.  

Top Ten Reasons the
Margin Tax will hurt Reno-Sparks’ Economy

1.     Jobs Will Be Lost as Corporate Tax Rate Jumps: Jobs would be lost in the Truckee Meadows as businesses attempted to keep their doors open. Other jobs would be lost when businesses closed up shop altogether. Economic development efforts would be hurt and some companies would find it more advantageous to stay put or locate to other states. That’s because Question 3’s tax rate would be an average of 14-15%, nearly double California’s corporate income tax rate.

2.     Job Attraction and Retention More Difficult: Many prospects have delayed their decision to come here until after the election and several existing companies have made clear their intent to either relocate out of the state or do their planned expansions at another location if the tax passes.

3.     No Guarantee It Will Go To Education: While proponents claim that these new dollars will go to education, there is nothing in the initiative to keep the Legislature from re-allocating existing funding to other programs. The initiative in essence gives the Legislators a blank check. There is no guarantee that one “additional” dime would go to the education needs of Washoe County students.

4.     No Real Accountability: There is no plan or accountability for how this almost $1 billion in new revenue would be spent. While proponents claim that these new dollars would go to education, they are never clear on the specifics. Will these dollars go to the classroom? Or to more administrators? Or to more outside lawyers hired by the School Board? No one knows, because there is no plan.

5.     Will Not Support WCSD Infrastructure Needs: There is no guarantee that one cent of this massive tax increase would go toward the capital needs of the Washoe County School District. State dollars are not currently used for the maintenance needs of our older school buildings, for the technology and security upgrades that are desperately needed, nor to eliminate the need for the modular buildings that are filling up our elementary school playgrounds. Local tax dollars fund these needs and the Margin Tax would not help at all.

6.     Increase Costs For Everyone: Every Washoe County resident would see increased grocery, utility, and healthcare bills. No business is immune to this devastating tax and those every day costs would be passed on to consumers.

7.     Some Industries Are Hit Harder than Others: At least one industry will be eliminated by the tax, the secure trust business. Experts in this industry have stated that this change will drive the entire industry to South Dakota. The loss of these investors will have a ripple effect on our entrepreneurial community as many of those business owners are also angel investors.

8.     Retail and Restaurants Also Hit Hard: Reno is in the midst of a rebirth, fueled by locally-owned retail shops, bars, and restaurants in vibrant districts such as Midtown, Fourth Street, and Wells Avenue. The retail and restaurant industry would be harmed the most by the Margin Tax, as they operate on very thin margins.

9.     Destroys Entrepreneurial Momentum: Most entrepreneurs lose money in their first several years of operation, yet they will still be on the hook for thousands of dollars in taxes if their revenue exceeds $1M annually.

10.  The Tax Is Confusing and Will Likely Require Costly Litigation: Instead of spending money on new goods, equipment, and salaries, our local businesses would be spending money on high-priced lawyers or CPAs to help them through the maze of confusion that is the initiative language. Those same businesses would also be paying for the state to hire lawyers to fend off the lawsuits that they filed!