Fight Tax Raises With Common Sense

As you may know Nevada's ivory tower is debating on whether or not we have to raise taxes. If Nevada is in debt, there will have to be a tax hike anyways. They are just putting off their ways of generating money for the state. Tourism is doing ok, but it will only get you so far. We are not Switzerland; a self regulating autonomous nation which could practice secrecy. Like it or not. the officials we have elected now and 4 years ago, mismanaged our taxpaying money and now we have to pay more. But why should we?

So Governor Gibbons wants to do this without tax cuts huh? Well he would have to take everyone across the board and will have to cut their overinflated wages. Seriously, some county and city secretaries get around $60,000 per year before taxes. Wait let us use their official titles: administrators. Now target the overpaid managers and police officers and you are looking at a couple hundred million. But no one is willing to sacrifice their paycheck for the betterment of the state--as they should not have to. They should instead start using viral marketing instead of these elaborate ad campaigns that are omitted from every one's TiVo anyways. They already cut their checks once before along with having employees taking extra days off.

Nevada needs money. your elected officials will eventually get their heads out of the clouds and will be forced to raise tax rates. However, many of these rates you do not have to pay. Nevada state sales tax only covers luxury items, tobacco, prepared food and other small amenities. But why pay all of your taxes to people who are just going to flush your hard earned dollars down the toilet? Pay only what is mandatory and you go far. Here are some examples of non mandatory taxes that you can avoid. Using your frugal mindset, I am sure you can think of more ways to succeed with paying what is necessary.

For instance you do not have to pay alcohol and sales taxes if you decide to quit drinking and smoking. If you want to get extreme you could create your own moonshine and set up a home brewery. If you totally devote a whole room to a hobby in your house it is also considered a IRS tax break. Also smoking hookah tobacco instead of cigarette tobacco tends to have vendors that will not charge tax on hookah.

No matter what route you choose, make sure you exercise your vices with caution. CB does not condone people to go off drinking and smoking using alternative sources.

Another tax that just came out is the hotel tax. Most owners will waive this tax if you are a local resident, but if you are from out of state, try to board up with a friend instead. There is a 3.3% out of state resident hotel tax in Nevada. I would suggest doing this even if you have the money though. Just do chores to make up for crashing and do not ware out your welcome.

Now Big Brother might step in and hit us all with this one: the Carbon tax. That's right, there might be a tax soon based off of what type of carbon footprint you leave behind. To clarify you might have to pay for the air that somebody else breathes. Meaning that you will not be able to take out the tax, especially if you own a car. This is pure propaganda brought on by David de Rothschild in his "adult educated" level book called The Live Earth Global Warming Survival Handbook and by former Vice President Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth If you want the truth about how much it would actually cost there is a Penn and Teller video episode that address this along with a brutally funny article at http://cracked.com/.

For those of you that do not reside in Nevada, study your own state's tax code and try to find loopholes. Do not get me wrong, you should pay only the taxes for the items you consume along with the IRS statements. Just do not get nickeled and dimed for taxes that you absolutely have control over.

Remember save money now, avoid poverty later!