Welcome to the e-Voices MONDAY MINUTE, your weekly email newsletter from New Mexico Voices for Children. Please take a minute to add your voice to the pressing issues of the day. Also, tell us what issues you'd like to know more about so we can tailor the MONDAY MINUTE to your interests. Thanks!

September 25, 2006

Tackling Tax Transparency

Imagine if a state agency - say, the Corrections Department, for example - wasn't required to tell the state how it was spending its annual budget. Imagine if this department did not produce any accounting of how much it spent on payroll, incarceration expenses, rehabilitation programs, even office supplies. That'd be crazy, right? The government owes it to its taxpayers - that's us - to keep track of how tax money is spent.

Makes sense. Until you consider that every year in New Mexico, hundreds of millions of dollars worth of tax cuts, credits and incentives go to the business community with no annual accounting procedure. These so-called 'tax expenditures,' which are a form of government spending, are granted often in the hopes that they will create new jobs and strengthen the state's economy. But no one knows if they work because no one - our lawmakers included - keeps track.

Tax expenditures - and the fact that no one knows how much they cost year after year or whether they provide any benefits - are the subject of a new report by New Mexico Voices, Moving Toward Revenue Policy Transparency in New Mexico.

You may well be wondering why a child advocacy group cares about tax and budget issues. The answer is simple: less waste in the state budget can translate into more funds to help working families in the lowest earnings groups. And that's good for children.

Gerry Bradley, our Research Director, testifies on this issue before the Legislative Finance Committee tomorrow in Santa Fe. NM Voices will continue to pursue tax transparency, among other tax and budget issues, into the 2007 session, so you'll be hearing more about this. In the meantime, though, you can check out the report here: http://www.nmvoices.org/attachments/revenue_transparency_in_nm.pdf

Speak Out on Health Care for All

Universal health care is an extremely important issue for children and families. Accessible, quality health care is essential in order for a child to reach his or her potential - not just physically, but intellectually and socially as well. While we guarantee every child an education, there is no government-mandated and supported health care. In America, the opportunity to see a doctor is most available to those who can best afford it - and that leaves tens of thousands of New Mexico's children behind.

When a parent does not receive health insurance at work, their children must rely on Medicaid. Problem is, Medicaid does not cover parents too. Children are healthier when their parents are healthy, but Medicaid does not address this side of the equation. Universal health care would.

Governor Richardson recently called for a committee to investigate and recommend a universal health care model that would cover all New Mexicans. The committee will allow for public comments at its next meeting.

That meeting is Wednesday, Sept. 27, 3:00pm to 7:30pm, at the State Capitol, rm. 317, in Santa Fe. Public input begins at 5:15pm.

What you can do:

• Attend the Sept. 27 meeting and tell the committee you want universal health care that reforms the current system rather than merely expands it, and that addresses administrative and other cost savings.
• Email Ruby Ann Esquibel at Rubyann.esquibel@state.nm.us (or call her at 505-827-1345) and ask to be put on the speakers list for the Sept. 27 meeting.
• If you cannot attend the meeting, please write down your comments and send them by email to: Rubyann.esquibel@nm.state.us;
• Or send them by snail mail to: Ruby Ann Esquibel, Human Services Department, PO Box 2348, Santa Fe, NM 87504-2348;
• Or fax them to 505-827-3185.
• For more information, call the Health Care for All Campaign at 505-314-0656 or visit www.healthactionnm.org.
  

Now for a Pregnant Pause...

We pause now for some good news: teen pregnancy across the country is at a record low. That's according to Kids Count data recently released by the Annie E. Casey Foundation. The bad news is that it's still highest across states in the Southern US - which includes New Mexico. What's worse is that the numbers still show a distinct disparity by race.

Teen pregnancy is by far the highest in Hispanic/Latino populations. African-American populations have the second highest rate and Native-American populations the third. Not surprisingly, these are the same populations that have the highest rates of poverty and the lowest high school graduation rates. What's not so obvious is this fact: poverty is not just a direct result of teen pregnancy, it's also a direct cause.

Think about it. Middle-class teens are more likely to see college and careers in their futures, so they have more of an incentive to delay child bearing. Lower-income teens are not only more likely to lack this incentive, but they're more likely to see starting a family as their brightest possible future.

You can read the whole report - which includes some strategies for reducing teen pregnancy - here: http://www.aecf.org/kidscount/sld/snapshot_teenmother.jsp