Better brace yourselves

Will it be ‘High Noon’ or ‘Groundhog Day’ when Legislature convenes?

We’re going to have a special session of the New Mexico Legislature (today), and all accounts are that it will be “high noon at the OK Corral.” The political battle lines are drawn, the legislators are locked and loaded and so is the governor. While there may be some compromise in the wind, I’m reminded of President George H.W. Bush when he said, “Read my lips. No new taxes.” And what happened? New taxes. That is not to say that he didn’t mean it at the time; it’s just that events overtook him, just like our pressing budget problems may make the governor take a step back from her comments about no new NM taxes or increases. I encourage her to hold firm.

I have great empathy with our governor and with the legislators, but this game of fiscal “chicken” simply cannot be replayed, year after year, like a rerun of the movie “Groundhog Day.” She’s not Punxsutawney Phil and neither are the legislators the dignitaries at Gobbler’s Knob. They’re real people trying to make lemonade out of some ... lemons that have grown overly sour on our financial tree.

It’s fair to say that nobody really wants to place any more burdens on taxpayers already suffering under sales taxes, escalating county property taxes, a state income tax , increasing state fees for various licenses and outsourcing of state contracts to out-of-state companies, not to mention the princely salaries of some university coaches and vice presidents with dubious portfolios earning in excess of $200K a year.

Small-business owners are desperately trying to survive in an environment of dwindling customers that prefer to use Internet vendors to save money as businesses try to keep pace with other rising costs while the unemployed in our state search in vain for work, any work, that will stave off personal bankruptcy. Many of our seniors are faced with a “Sophie’s choice” of buying food or medicine. It’s true that we must keep our physical infrastructure of roads, hospitals and communication from falling into disrepair, but we must also be able to afford to drive our cars and dial our phones.

We have about a half-million New Mexicans living at or near the poverty level of $23,834 a year for a family of four, and many of them are worried about how they’re going to pay for expensive hospital and medical costs. About 25 percent of our 2-million-plus population don’t even have health insurance or unemployment insurance! They’re way beyond thinking about balancing their budgets. They’re already underwater with no hope of a life preserver.

Every citizen wants safe streets, good schools and affordable services. That goes without saying, but what needs to be said is: “Are we willing to endure another hit to our already threadbare pocketbooks in an economy that has the highest unemployment rate in the country and that hasn’t as yet recovered from the recession of 2009?” Something’s got to give, and if that something is our level of expectations, then we need to know the consequences of no new or increased taxes before the gavel falls or the bills are signed.

Our government owes us this at the very least.