EDITORIAL: Strategic thinking

A suggestion to help the economy grow

January 24, 2010 -Nevada is hurting, no question about it. Unemployment rose last month to a near-record 13 percent. While housing prices have stabilized, no one expects them to rise again for years. Tourism is steady, but visitors aren't spending much of their money. Businesses are scrambling to survive. The state and local governments are planning hundreds of millions of dollars worth of budget cuts in response to sagging revenues.

All these conditions have some politicians thinking about raising taxes.

They speak of their wishes in code, preferring to call for a "restructuring" of Nevada's levies. They're quick to forget that when the economy was healthy, Nevada's tax structure allowed governments here to increase spending faster than anywhere else in America.

The solution to the revenue problems of Nevada's governments is not higher taxes -- it's taking steps to help the economy grow. That requires strategic thinking.

State lawmakers got a taste of some Wednesday when Jeremy Aguero of Applied Analysis presented a report that said the state could recover from the recession more quickly if economic development officials encouraged more retirees to move to Nevada.

"We spend $80 million a year to attract people to gamble in Las Vegas," Mr. Aguero told a legislative committee. "We spend zero reminding people Nevada is a great place to retire."

He said his studies debunk the idea that senior citizens are a drain on government services. On the contrary, their median income is higher than the national average. Although 12.6 percent of the country's population is at least age 65, only 11.3 percent of the state's residents are that old.

"Our population is getting older," Mr. Aguero said. "Seniors will choose where to retire and bring a huge amount of capital with them.

"Somebody is going to get the benefit. If it is not us, it will be somebody else."

Seniors want to live in a favorable climate -- they want warm weather and a low tax burden on their fixed incomes. Southern Nevada has it all: sunny days and fun things to do, an airport with affordable direct flights almost everywhere, and no income or estate taxes. Its low home prices are a big draw, too, these days.

Lawmakers seemed to support Mr. Aguero's findings. Good. Now they need to act on them by putting proposals in motion. Local governments, which can move much faster than the state, shouldn't be bashful about redirecting some of their current PR expenditures into such campaigns.