Sunday, October 19, 2014

Support Yucca - Oppose Nevada's Margins Tax

After exhaustive environmental studies that took years, Yucca Mountain, about 100 miles from Las Vegas, Nevada was selected as the nation's nuclear waste repository.  This site was selected to contain spent nuclear fuel from all over the country because of its ideal conditions out in the dry desert.   Utility companies from all over the country and through them their rate payers and the federal government spent $18 billion building Yucca.  Socialist Senator Dirty Harry Reid of Nevada, the current Senate majority leader, has effectively blocked utilization of Yucca, even though it would create thousands of high paying jobs in Nevada.  But to be fair, current Republican politicians including Governor Brian Sandoval, Senator Dean Heller and Congressman Joe Heck of Las Vegas also oppose Yucca. 

All of them are operating under an old paradigm, presumably that Yucca would be used to store spent nuclear fuel from other states into perpetuity.  That paradigm is no longer operable.  Instead, Nevada could use Yucca to build a vibrant nuclear industry, re-processing spent fuel and selling it all over the world.   France re-processes 96% of its spent nuclear fuel safely and sells it profitably to supply nuclear plants around the world.  And, if global warming is an issue, nuclear energy does not generate any carbon based pollutants.  In many ways, nuclear energy is the most efficient and cleanest of them all. 

The Teacher's Union in Nevada has put a new corporate Margins Tax on the ballot that supposedly would provide revenues to support the public schools; though there are no guarantees that these monies would be used for schools, if this ballot propositions is enacted.   The Margins Tax would tax small businesses on their top line revenues, even if they are not profitable.  It is the worst possible form of corporate income tax.  Many Private Sector Unions, along with the business community, are opposed because this Margins Tax would be a job killer and discourage companies from moving to Nevada.  As such, Nevada voters on November 4 should vote NO on ballot measure 3. 

Instead, we should all support utilization of Yucca to build a vibrant nuclear industry in Nevada.   Nevada could charge a sales tax on every pound of re-processed nuclear fuel sold.  All of that money could go to support the public schools and or for other vital state services.  Governor Sandoval of Nevada and the Socialist controlled state legislature just voted unanimously to provide $1.2 Billion in incentives to attract the new Tesla Battery Plant to Northern Nevada to create 6,500 jobs.  Time will tell if that was a good decision in terms of return on investment to the state. 

The fact is that the state of Nevada would not have to spend one dime to create a Nuclear Industry in Nevada that could create far more jobs and positive revenues for the state.   This will probably never happen as long as Dirty Harry is still in power; but it is time for Republicans in Nevada to support the creation of a Nuclear Industry in Nevada, as a counter weight to Senator Dirty Harry Reid's opposition.   Aside from the good paying jobs that would be created, the sales tax revenues generated could amount to several hundred million dollars a year,  paid by out-of-state purchasers, which would benefit all the citizens of Nevada, without being a drag on our economy. 

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