If businesses want an easier time earning gold, they should come to the Silver State.
This month, technology company leaders gathered for the annual Vegas Tech Summit. The event — created by Teddy Liaw, founder of NexRep — is an effort to attract technology companies to the Las Vegas Valley. Mr. Liaw moved here several years ago from San Francisco. He said that he became “disenchanted” with California’s politics and regulatory environment. He knows Nevada is a better place to run a business and wants to encourage more technology companies to relocate here.
There have been many successes. Brandon Sim, the founder and CEO of Astrana Health, moved his company here from California. He said his health care technology company followed its patients and clients as they moved east.
Moves like this are a win-win. California companies coming to Nevada help grow and expand the state’s economy. They diversify the types of businesses here and build the tax base. This kind of growth is good for Southern Nevadans.
Companies have an easier time operating and earning money here, too. They enjoy lower tax rates and officials who want to help companies grow, not strangle them in red tape.
Consider this: In January, the Pacific Palisades Fire destroyed more than 11,000 homes. In July, six months later, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass issued two executive actions to speed up the rebuilding process. Never mind that six months after the fire, the homes should have already been well into the rebuilding state.
This month, she sent a letter to the L.A. City Council updating them on the progress. “More than 850 rebuilding plans have been approved for more than 450 unique addresses for projects in the Palisades,” she wrote. “Hundreds of rebuilding plans are in the process of being reviewed, and at least 230 homes are confirmed to have started construction.”
This is abysmal. California officials should be resigning in disgrace. Instead, Ms. Bass boasted about it. “Pacific Palisades rebuilding permits are being approved nearly three times faster than typical single-family home projects before the wildfires,” she wrote.
Now imagine how hard it is for most California businesses — operating outside the public’s attention — to build or expand. And if you somehow manage to navigate that labyrinth, your reward is paying some of the highest taxes in the country.
Nevada offers companies a much better deal. Come to a place that wants you to succeed. That understands a private company’s success benefits the local community. That government shouldn’t put up seemingly endless obstacles to business growth.
Nevada can’t fix California’s awful policies, but it remains a welcoming refuge for those wishing to escape them.