Who would point at Detroit as justification for higher taxes?

Background: Stumbled on a letter in the Las Vegas Review-Journal that used Detroit to justify higher casino taxes. What fool would use anyplace in Michigan, let alone Detroit, as justification for higher taxes? Must be all that dry heat.

A recent letter by Mehran Soudbakhsh attempts to justify a higher tax on casinos by pointing to Detroit. Anyone who would use Michigan as a poster child for increasing taxes apparently prefers economic stagnation to growth. My state became addicted to higher spending when tax revenue flowed easily. Unable to kick the addiction when the well ran dry, my state has spent most of the past seven years suffering one budget crisis after another.

Do you really want your state government to control ever-increasing amounts of tax money? Better to leave it in the hands of business executives who will contribute to your state’s growth by investing in property and tourism. Once the politicians grab it, you can be sure it will be wasted on boondoggles and special interests. Then when the economy softens, your elected officials will be left with a spending addiction and not enough money to satisfy it.

[Letter to the Editor - Las Vegas Review-Journal. Published 10/14/2007.]