Beware of dropping income tax

To the editor:in response to the editorial "Trial balloons" regarding the possibility of eliminating Missouri's personal income tax:

As a resident of a no-personal-income-tax state, Nevada, I caution you to be wary of this proposal. In Nevada, we have a slew of taxes and fees to make up the income not collected from a personal income tax. All these fees, unlike a state personal income tax, are not deductible for the purpose of federal income tax itemized returns.

I may be guilty of heresy, but give me a deductible state income tax in place of the nondeductible nickel-and-dime taxes any day, and spare me the fiction of "low tax state" trumpeted by Nevada, which is not supported by any study of per-capita tax rates.

DANA McREYNOLDS, North Las Vegas, Nev.