LV lauded for being friendly to businesses - Business

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Jan. 10, 2009
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

LV lauded for being friendly to businesses

By JENNIFER ROBISON
LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL

Consider Heidi Vasas something of an expert on business climates in Western states.

Vasas, owner of Las Vegas-based Vasas Business Insurance, sells policies in Alaska, California, Texas, Arizona and Utah, among other regional states. But it's Nevada that ranks as Vasas' favorite place to do business, and she credits the Silver State's tax structure and streamlined government as key factors in why her company has thrived in its 24 years here.

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"Las Vegas is a phenomenal town to do business in," said Vasas, whose company has three employees and 17 agents. "The tax climate is wonderful. By not having to pay all the different taxes, I can hire more employees and put more people to work."

A new report backs up Vasas' glowing review. The Small Business Survival Index, a study from the Small Business & Entrepreneurship Council in Virginia, says Nevada ranks No. 2 nationally for its friendliness to small businesses, primarily because of its favorable tax structure.

Nevada was second only to South Dakota.

The council bases the index's rankings primarily on a state's public policies and how they affect small businesses.

Nevada ranked first in several areas, including tax rates for personal and corporate income and capital gains.

Nevada also ranked first for having the lowest number of government employees per 100 residents.

California ranked No. 49 in the index.

Steve Hill, chairman of the Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce, said businesses consider a broad variety of aspects when choosing whether and where to start a company.

A state's tax climate is imperative, because high taxes can eat into return on investment. With lower levies, it's easier to create value in a business, and that means greater incentive for entrepreneurs to open new companies, Hill said.

But business operators also want to know about an area's quality of life, including its schools. Sheer growth is important, too.

"Las Vegas has mostly been an exceptionally vibrant economy, a high-growth economy, and I think that's important to most businesses," Hill said. "We've been able to combine that growth with low taxes and a generally pro-business set of elected officials, and that combination is what makes Nevada a great place for doing business."

Kimberly Gyuran, president of The Payroll Co. in Las Vegas, said taxes and financial issues ranked No. 3 or No. 4 on her list of reasons Nevada made for good business. Gyuran said she doesn't think Nevada's lack of income taxes mean the Silver State is necessarily low-tax. Plenty of state agencies charge businesses and consumers fees that affect the bottom line but don't count in any tally of levies.

"Where they're not getting (tax money) from one place, they're getting it from another," she said.

Rather than focusing mostly on taxes, Gyuran said, she would also think about the city's climate for families, including its education system, if she were an outsider contemplating a move here.

And even better than Nevada's tax base is the access it offers to small operators looking to connect with government and business leaders.

"You can make an appointment and go talk to Mayor (Oscar) Goodman," Gyuran said. "You don't have all this protective stuff. Everything's very touchable, and there are more opportunities here."

Vasas also cited issues besides taxes that make Nevada a healthy place for her company.

For one thing, she said, she's able to find a steady stream of skilled employees and prospective clients here. She loves Southern Nevada's colleges and universities. And the area's open-minded pioneer ethos places few limits on locals' ability to achieve their goals.

Still, any entrepreneur weighing a new startup will give careful thought to a state's lineup of levies, Vasas said.

"The tax climate is extremely important to outsiders (considering moving here)," she said. "Startup businesses need every penny they can get their hands on. The less they have to pay in taxes, the more money they have left to promote their business with. And the more they promote their business, the more people they can hire."

Contact reporter Jennifer Robison at jrobison@reviewjournal.com or 702-380-4512. The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Please enter your name Name: Please enter your email Email: Please enter a comment COMMENTS : (word count limit is 300) You have reached the maximum number of words allowed Current Word Count: Note: Comments made by reporters and editors of the Las Vegas Review-Journal are presented with a yellow background. Don't forget wrote on January 10, 2009 11:10 PM: The most expensive tax. The Harry Reid street tax. Nevada 5th highest taxed state wrote on January 10, 2009 06:37 PM: Considering all the taxes paid out by the suckers, Nevada is the 5th highest taxed State in the nation. Just because we're smart enough not to get mired down in income taxes doesn't mean we're not making up for it in other taxes. Consider why Nevada gasoline price is ridiculous compared to other places, consider all the hidden taxes in "fees" etc. We're sick of paying taxes to morons who run our governments who only turn around and throw it all away. These fascists need to be run out of the country. Democrats in particular are guilty of keeping the working man down by heavy levies of taxes. just an analyst wrote on January 10, 2009 05:11 PM: Mr. Hill, You and the Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce correctly maintain that businesses consider a wide variety of issues, including quality of life and education, before relocating. Quality of life is more than just low taxes and good weather. Education and adequate health come first. Nevada is near the bottom in funding those. What Nevada does not yet recognize is that it is suffering internal bleeding which threatens to stifle the very revenue proponents of low taxes strive to protect. We script the future every day. Worshipping at the low taxes altar is exactly the type of narrow-minded, toxic thinking that quickly undermines a society's competitive edge. I am a financial analyst by trade so I look at numbers. That is my job. Sometimes, however, compelling truths lie beneath them. Life is more than an EXCEL spreadsheet. Please work to let your members know this. I have children in our schools and am willing to do what is reasonable to find the right mix of funding and support. Perhaps you will, too. ths wrote on January 10, 2009 04:57 PM: Rank #2 for favorable business taxes but can't attract many out of state businesses to move here. About be ranked #10 and have better services that give businesses reasons to move here. Simple, supply and demand. Right now we only supply low taxes, but low higher educated people, poor transportation network, under staffed police, poor health care services. The negatives are more then the positive. See wrote on January 10, 2009 02:00 PM: False. If this was true, then why are so many companies closing its doors and moving to China? No one likes a police state. No one like a place that fines and emposes heavy fees to do business. This Heidi Vasas doesn't know what they are talking about. Nevada is one screwed up place to live or do business. Planet wrote on January 10, 2009 12:45 PM: A Clark County "Business License" is a complete rip-off because Clark County does absolutely nothing for your business while the clowns in the department collect your money. It's just another in a long line of ridiculous taxes one has to pay to play in the rigged game. Incorporating in Nevada is a major mistake and the cost is exorbitant. Don't do it, go elsewhere to incorporate. Remember, you are fingered by the Democrats when it comes time to pay corporate taxes in Nevada. We need a lot less government, essential services only, and a lot less government wasteful spending. Why do we have to pay for nonessential services in the first place? Close down all those departments and lets put the money back into the pockets from whence it came, the workers and business owners (you know, the small businesses that create the jobs in the first instance -- government NEVER creates jobs, only more headaches for those trying to recover from government waste and interferrence). We also need to run the Californians out of our state, they've tried to take over our government and turn our independent state into a facist enclave of California -- think about ridiculous laws like the smoking ban... how unscientifically stupid was that law?. aaron wrote on January 10, 2009 09:44 AM: @ WHAT PLANET DID VASAS ARRIVE FROM? You think start up costs are high here? Wow. Just. Wow. It costs about $1,800 to incorporate your business, $150 for a Clark County Business Licence, a small deposit to allow you to charge sales tax. That is not a lot. GladK wrote on January 10, 2009 09:14 AM: Who needs comedy clubs when you can read articles like this. Complete & total Chamber-of-Commerce spin. It perfectly exemplifies the fundamental problem in America right now, that we are waking up to how we neglected to invest in our social infrastructure, while worshiping the Republican mantra of "low taxes". WHAT PLANET DID VASAS ARRIVE FROM? wrote on January 10, 2009 08:54 AM: The article is written by an idiot for an idiot. Las Vegas is very unfriendly to small business. Currently ranked second to last in the States ranking for small businesses. The taxation and start up costs in Las Vegas is incredibly high for a small business. The competition is stiff for a small business. The skilled labor doesn't exist in Las Vegas, after all this is a town with mainly uneducated people, particularly CCSD or UNLV graduates. The small business is inundated with ridiculous laws passed by the A-holes in Carson City. The small business has a great chance to get sued out of business here. Vasas is just another in a long line of shills for the insurance "industry" who also rip apart small businesses with their exorbitant "premiums" on business insurance and then do everything they can NOT to pay when the time comes. Insurance is essentially an unregulated snake industry.