Reno Gazette Journal June 27,2021 https://www.rgj.com/story/opinion/columnists/2021/06/24/economic-reasons-opposing-mining-tax-sam-kumar/5334462001/ My last column focused on the Nevada Legislature’s Republican Surrender Caucus of Heidi Gansert, Jill Tolles and Ben Kieckhefer from the Washoe county and Tom Roberts, Keith Pickard and Scott Hammond from Clark county. While that column focused primarily on disagreement in political philosophy, my strong feelings on this […]
Category: Economy and Taxes
Mining tax would shift resources from rural counties to Clark
Reno Gazette Journal July 26, 2020 https://www.rgj.com/story/opinion/2020/07/22/mining-essential-nevada-stop-trying-tax-death/5489073002/ Nevada Legislature concluded its special session last week. The special session was convened by Governor Steve Sisolak to address the budget shortfall caused by the COVID crisis. While several areas were cut, one recurring theme made its predictable re-entry: Higher taxes on mining. Over the past several sessions […]
Economy is Booming, but Deficits are a Concern
Reno Gazette Journal September 15, 2019 https://www.rgj.com/story/opinion/columnists/2019/09/12/economy-booming-but-deficits-concern-says-kumar/2303393001/ The August jobs report showed that the US economy has created over 6.3 million jobs since President Trump took office. 4.2 million more Americans have entered the labor force since January 2017. Unemployment rate stands at 3.7%, and the stock market has gained almost 50% since election day. […]
Lessons from New York’s Financial Mess
Reno Gazette Journal February 24, 2019 https://www.rgj.com/story/opinion/columnists/2019/02/21/lessons-new-yorks-financial-mess-sam-kumar/2940175002/ It has been a tough week for the State of New York. First came the news that the state will be facing a $2.3 billion budget shortfall. Then came the news that Amazon is cancelling its plans to build a second headquarters in Queens, NY citing opposition from […]
Welfare Reform Will Make Americans Rich
Reno Gazette Journal May 13, 2018 https://www.rgj.com/story/opinion/columnists/2018/05/14/meaningful-welfare-reform-make-americans-rich-kumar/600326002/ April jobs report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) showed that unemployment rate has dropped to 3.9%, the lowest level since December 2000. While most of the numbers in the jobs report were good, there were some red flags. Specifically, the labor force participation rate (percentage of […]
It’s morning again in America
Reno Gazette Journal January 14, 2018 https://www.rgj.com/story/opinion/columnists/2018/01/10/its-morning-again-america-sam-kumar/1022644001/ With over 2.1 million jobs created in 2017, a college student can look forward to a job upon graduation. The economy has grown over 3% in Q2 and Q3 of 2017 with an expected growth of close to 4% in Q4. With unemployment for black workers plummeting to […]
Tax reform a Christmas gift to America
Reno Gazette Journal December 24, 2017 https://www.rgj.com/story/opinion/columnists/2017/12/20/tax-reform-christmas-gift-america-sam-kumar/971535001/ Contrary to the negative press and partisan opposition to the recently passed tax reform bill, the tax reform bill is an excellent Christmas gift to America. Several claims have been made by partisans who are opposed to the tax cuts. Let us examine some of those central claims. […]
Laying out the broad principles for tax reform
Reno Gazette Journal November 26, 2017 https://www.rgj.com/story/opinion/columnists/2017/11/22/laying-out-broad-principles-tax-reform-sam-kumar/890944001/ The Tax Reform package has passed the House and is making its way through the Senate. While we are awaiting the final version of the bill, this column touches on some broad principles of taxation. We will return to specifics upon passage of the final bill. A good […]
President Trump’s pro growth tax plan
Reno Gazette Journal May 14, 2017 http://www.rgj.com/story/opinion/voices/2017/05/08/trumps-tax-cuts-spur-growth-look-kennedy-reagan-sam-kumar/311350001/ In the history of the United States, there have been several major tax cuts. It started back in 1920s when President Calvin Coolidge and his Treasury Secretary Andrew Mellon cut the income tax rate from 73 to 24 percent; and federal government revenues went up by over 40 […]
Minimum wage increase is a bad idea
Reno Gazette Journal March 26, 2017 http://www.rgj.com/story/opinion/voices/2017/03/24/higher-minimum-wage-lowers-incentive-college-sam-kumar/99561774/ Three weeks back, my good friend Randi Thompson wrote an opinion piece about minimum wage legislation on this page. This is a concurring opinion and I would strongly recommend that you also read Randi’s piece to fully understand the ramifications of this poorly thought out bill which is […]