Siena hotel in Reno shutting its doors
Say, didn't the Nevada Legislature increase the room tax on hotel rooms by 3 percent during the last session? Why yes, yes it did.
Surely there's no correlation between higher taxes on hotel rooms and the news breaking today that the Siena hotel in Reno has closed, though.
Of course there's a correlation! You can't raise taxes on a product or a business and not see a negative impact on the business or its employees. And this isn't the only hotel that's had to close its doors after the Legislature hiked the room tax.
On the other hand, you can't say that the tax increase alone caused the hotel to close. As I've written before, the factors influencing a business' success or failure are numerous and complex. What we can say with certainty is that the room-tax increase made it harder for the Siena to stay in business, and when the room tax was combined with all the other factors in the business, the Siena chose to shut its doors.
Let's just hope Nevada's legislative leadership learns this lesson before the next session.
