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January 8, 2007

Minimal Wages
The US House of Representatives is expected to vote on raising the federal minimum wage on Wednesday. This would be the first time in a decade that Congress acted on behalf of the country's lowest-paid workers. Since it was last raised in 1997, the purchasing power of the current minimum wage has fallen to what it was in the 1950s.

As our friends at the Coalition on Human Needs say, a job should keep you out of poverty, not keep you in it. A minimum-wage job today doesn't even begin to offer a path out of poverty.

The House bill in question would raise the minimum wage from $5.15 an hour to $7.25 over two years. Unfortunately, President Bush has said he wants to see tax breaks for business as part of a wage bill. Of course, there is absolutely no evidence to date that raising the minimum wage has any of the deleterious effects that critics warn of. In fact, when workers earn more money they generally spend more money, and that's good for business.

What you can do:

  • Please call or email your representative on Tuesday, Jan. 9, and urge them to vote for a minimum wage bill that does not contain tax breaks.
  • Email Rep. Steve Pearce (Dist. 2) via a form at http://www.pearce.house.gov, or call 202-225-2365.
  • Email Rep. Tom Udall (Dist. 3) via a form at http://www.tomudall.house.gov, or call 202-225-6190.
  • Email Rep. Heather Wilson (Dist. 1) via a form at http://www.wilson.house.gov, or call 202-225-6316.
  • Or use this toll-free number for the Capitol switchboard at 800-459-1887 and ask to be connected to your representative.

Counting New Mexico's Kids
Our 2006 New Mexico KIDS COUNT data book is finally here. This year, Kids Count Program Manager Sara Beth Koplik, Ph.D., highlighted information that is gathered in the Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System (PRAMS) survey. This survey is sent to every new mother by the state Health Department and asks about whether/when the expecting mother received prenatal health care, whether or not they smoked or drank alcohol and were victims of domestic violence. All of these factors are used to determine whether or not a birth is considered "healthy" by Health Dept. standards.

Not surprisingly, the data is mostly bad. Only 11 percent of the births statewide are categorized as "healthy," even though New Mexico moms have lower than average rates of smoking and drinking.

The KIDS COUNT data book also looks at rates of Medicaid enrollment (they've been dropping), high school drop out rates, death rates and more. As always, the data are presented at both the state and county levels.

Get your copy:

  • The 2006 NM KIDS COUNT data book will be posted Wednesday on our website at http://www.nmvoices.org/kidscount.htm.
  • You can also drop by the office for a free hard copy (we're at 2340 Alamo SE, Suite 120, off of Yale, south of Gibson, in Albuquerque).
  • Or send us $4 for shipping and handling and we'll be happy to mail you a copy.

Failing Grade
If that weren't depressing enough, New Mexico has just been rated the absolute worse place to go to school by a new report by Education Week.

The Quality Counts 2007 report ranks us dead last in their New Chance for Success index, which measures how well a state educates and supports their kids from preschool all the way to the career world.

As the Santa Fe New Mexican put it: "New Mexico falls below the national average in preschool enrollment; high school graduation rates; reading and math proficiency; enrollment in post-secondary education; family income; and the percentage of parents who work full time, have a degree and speak English fluently." Yeah. That pretty much covers it.

You can read more about the report here: http://www.edweek.org/ew/toc/2007/01/04/index.html


A Taxing Time
The start of a new year always heralds the arrival of all those great little documents one must collect in order to file one's income tax return. Both the federal and state governments offer several tax credits and rebates for parents and low-income workers - literally hundreds of million of dollars of it. Unfortunately, far too much of it goes unclaimed either because people don't know about them or don't go to a competent tax preparer.

By IRS estimates, in 2005 some 30,000 New Mexicans failed to claim the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC), leaving between $76 million and $136 million for the IRS to keep.

But here's the good news. You neither have to be a tax expert or pay lots of money to one in order to get all the credits you've earned. TAX HELP New Mexico offers free tax preparation and electronic filing for any New Mexican over the age of 65 or with an annual income under $36,000. The program will be opening clinics statewide beginning on Jan. 22.

TAX HELP NM is a program of Central New Mexico Community College (CNM). Get more information here: http://www.cnm.edu/taxhelp/. We'll keep you posted as well.

 

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