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As the city has grown, its leaders have adopted
some of the most pro-small-business policies in
the nation. Nevada has no income tax and
relatively low corporate taxes, and the lack of
excessive regulations on housing has helped
developers keep new-home prices among the lowest
in the country, allowing entrepreneurs to
stretch their dollars. "I have a huge house here
that I never could have afforded when I lived in
the Bay area," says Mark Olson, 45, president of
Olson/Ballard Communications, an eight-person
Vegas consulting and public relations firm.
Indeed, the cost of living in San Francisco is
171 percent higher than in Las Vegas.
These low-tax, anti-red-tape policies attract
thousands of retirees to the state, providing
consumers for small businesses and making it
relatively easy to start a company in Nevada.
What's more, because Vegas boasts few large
corporations other than casinos, small
businesses enjoy significant influence over the
chamber of commerce and other local instruments
of power, a rarity in most American cities.
The fact that the casinos depend on small-scale
contractors also promotes growth. Add a work
force accustomed to handling shifts at any time
because the casinos stay open all night, a
favorable climate and incessant evangelizing
from mayor Oscar Goodman (a former mob lawyer),
and Vegas' charms become even more alluring.
Goodman, who drinks and gambles frequently yet
is seen as a highly skilled politician, has
started a range of incentive programs to lure
even more businesses to Sin City.
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