Imagine having to turn down a raise in pay because it will actually make you less financially secure. Sounds crazy, but that's what many working parents have to do--and just when they're making headway in the quest to provide their family with economic stability. It's all due to the "cliff effect" and, in New Mexico, the cliff effect for child care assistance can throw families who get even a small raise right back into poverty.
Much of New Mexico’s array of scenic beauty has been enhanced and protected by a relatively little-known federal program called the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF). Unfortunately, at the end of the federal fiscal year, the sun will set on one of our country’s greatest conservation programs if Congress fails to reauthorize it. The loss of the LWCF would not bode well for America.
Call me crazy but I really enjoy Tax Day because I am truly proud to pay taxes. If voting during Election Day is a self-expression of our values, then filing our tax returns on Tax Day is the method through which we celebrate those values. Taxes provide the resources to make shared investments in the things we all care about like a cleaner environment, public health, and quality schools.
The recent decision to include a question on citizenship status in the 2020 decennial Census is certain to increase the number of people who won’t respond to the census. And that’s exactly the political motivation behind the decision to include a question that hasn’t been asked since 1950. This change will be particularly bad for New Mexico.
Bill Jordan spoke at the Second Annual People's Rally. His comments are posted here. "Our years of austerity just so that the rich and well-connected can get tax cuts ― those days are over! It’s time for us to invest in what works. It’s time to invest in New Mexico."
We seem to finally have crawled out of the revenue ravine, and some legislators want to place us back on the edge of that same fiscal precipice? Sounds suicidal.
We all want a prosperous state, but prosperity requires investments. You can’t grow a garden without good soil, sunlight, water, and some hard work. Same with a state—you can’t have prosperity without resources, infrastructure, and a skilled workforce. But instead of following an investment strategy to prosperity, New Mexico has tried to cut its way to prosperity.
In the final part in our series on the just-passed federal tax reform, Raphael Pacheco takes a look at how the legislation may impact New Mexico's budget. (Spoiler alert: it's not good.)
In Part 1 of our blog series, Raphael Pacheco gave us an overview of the federal tax bill. Now in Part 2, he gets down to the nitty-gritty and how the various provisions of the tax bill may impact you.
The long-awaited federal tax reform is now law. So what does it mean for you and your family? Researcher and Analyst Raphael Pacheco takes a look in this first installment of a three-part blog.