NM tax breaks will send millions back to families

WHILE WE agree with much of the Journal’s Nov. 1 editorial, “Working New Mexicans need real tax reform and lawmakers to do it,” particularly on the issue of accountability, the editorial board didn’t do a good job of factchecking. The Journal leaves out the important fact that the recently enacted tax package gave working families with children two big tax breaks that will send more than $64 million back to families next year. In fact, recent analysis shows that 70% of families with kids will see a tax break when they file their taxes next year.

Yes, New Mexicans who do lots of shopping online will pay a little more in gross receipts taxes. That’s one of the elements in the bill designed to make our local businesses, which have long been losing customers to the Internet, more competitive. And, yes, smokers will be paying a higher tax. But you’d have to smoke 12,000 cigarettes a year in order for that tax increase to burn up the same amount of money that the average family will receive from the tax breaks enacted for them.

The editorial also complains about raising taxes at the same time that the state is awash in revenue from oil and gas, and then in the very next paragraph admits that we need to be prepared for the eventuality that the Permian Basin will dry up. This year’s tax package was designed, in part, to make our tax system less reliant on the boom-and-bust oil industry. Raising stable revenue is important, particularly when you consider that the state actually cut taxes when you add together all of the tax bills enacted this year.

Working together, the governor and legislators also leveled the playing field for our local businesses and made our tax system more fair for hard-working families — and still managed to enact a responsible budget.

JAMES JIMENEZ Executive Director, New Mexico Voices for Children Appointee, Tax Policy Advisory Committee