The odds it will create jobs are slim-to-none, but cost will be high

PRESS RELEASE
April 4, 2013
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT: Sharon Kayne, Communications Director, NM Voices for Children, 505-244-9505 

ALBUQUERQUE—The omnibus tax bill signed into law today will cost the state of New Mexico at least $100 million dollars by fiscal year 2017 and is not likely to create any jobs. That’s the conclusion of a report by New Mexico Voices for Children on HB-641, the bill that was haphazardly passed in the final minutes of the 2013 legislative session and signed into law today.

“HB-641 is bad for New Mexico,” said Veronica C García, Ed.D., Executive Director of New Mexico Voices for Children. “Giving tax breaks to corporations with no performance accountability attached to them will not serve the interests of New Mexico’s children and working families. These tax-cuts-for-jobs schemes are known to be ineffective at creating jobs and growing an economy that works for everyone.”

The most expensive provisions of HB-641 do not guarantee that companies will set up shop in New Mexico, and they give companies that are already here a tax break without requiring that they add a single job.

“What this bill does guarantee is that the state will have tens of millions of dollars less for education, public safety, and health care,” said Gerry Bradley, Senior Researcher and Policy Analyst for the child advocacy organization and author of the report. “Another provision in the bill will cost local governments $26 million by fiscal year 2017. Cities and counties will be either be forced to pass the cost along to working families, or cut services like fire and police protection,” he added.

“The signing of this bill—coupled with the Good Friday veto of a bill to raise the minimum wage—shows that out-of-state corporations are a higher priority with this administration than New Mexico’s own working families and their children,” said Dr. García. “New Mexico’s lowest-paid working families had their long-needed raise vetoed, while profitable corporations got big tax cuts. New Mexico’s lowest-income workers already pay a much higher percentage of their income in state and local taxes than those at the top, and this bill will make that inequity even worse.”

The report, “HB-641: Bad Bill, Flawed Process, Empty Promises,” is available online here: https://www.nmvoices.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/HB-641-policy-brief.pdf

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New Mexico Voices for Children is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization advocating for policies to improve the health and well-being of New Mexico’s children, families and communities. Our fiscal policy work is funded by grants from the Annie E. Casey Foundation, the McCune Charitable Foundation, the WK Kellogg Foundation, and the Working Poor Families Project.
625 Sliver Ave. SW, Suite 195, Albuquerque, NM 87102; 505-244-9505 (p); www.nmvoices.org