Key New Mexico lawmaker wants to reevaluate tax breaks

By Michael Gerstein, Santa Fe New Mexican
October 31, 2020

House Appropriations and Finance Chairwoman Patricia Lundstrom says she isn’t targeting specific credits or tax breaks for the chopping block as the Legislature prepares for the 2021 session, but she also notes she’s not ruling anything out — including businesses’ ability to stack multiple tax credits and even tax exemptions for necessities such as groceries, medical expenses and prescription drugs.

“Does it make sense at the level that it’s still been set up?” Lundstrom, D-Gallup, said late last week. “It’s just amazing to me that we have absolutely no control over that. If we needed money, say, to help plug holes in education, we’re not going to have it because we’re paying out all these tax expenditures. And I don’t think we’re taking a hard enough look at it when these things are going through.”

Lundstrom hinted at the problem during a daylong Legislative Finance Committee meeting last week, in which economists detailed the list of credits, exemptions and deductions and told lawmakers that despite their hefty price tag, New Mexico has little information on whether some tax incentives benefit the state.