Would you want to be heard saying, “I can’t believe I pay for roads when I fill my gas tank”? Or, “first responders really hike up the cost of my mortgage.” Or, “my water bill wouldn’t be so bad if I could get out of paying for public safety.” It might make us sound stupid or shallow but we would, at least, be speaking more honestly about taxes than we do now.
The debt ceiling deal recently reached by the White House and Congress has some negative consequences for current and future college students who rely on some forms of federal financial aid to help pay educational costs. According to the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office, the debt deal cut overall financial aid funding by $4.6 billion through 2021. This will increase costs for students by nearly $7.4 billion from 2012 through 2016.
Some members of Congress are driving the United States and the world to the brink of economic disaster on the grounds that they have to stop “out-of-control” government spending. This is a dangerous myth and it’s about to steer us over a cliff – completely unnecessarily.
Good news released May 23rd shows that New Mexico’s Land Grant Permanent Fund is now at $10.6 billion. The fund’s growth comes from two sources – investments in stocks and bonds, along with income generated from public lands. In the last three months, investments yielded $503.5 million and income added another $100.8 million to the fund.
Finding high-quality affordable child care remains one of the biggest challenges for New Mexico’s working families. Three out of five New Mexico children need care outside the home while their parents work. And as any parent knows, child care is expensive.
Everyone should take a close look at The People's Budget, published on the website of the Congressional Progressive Caucus. It is very readable and it offers a reasonable and humane alternative to both the Ryan and the Obama plans for deficit reduction.
For some time now, New Mexico has been in the midst of a child care crisis. A tough economy led to this crisis but a lack of leadership from Santa Fe has made it worse. Over the last year, lawmakers have drastically cut the amount of child care assistance available to low-income working parents, while increasing their co-pays by 10%.
The most notable thing about the recently finished 60-day legislative session is not what was signed or not signed by the Governor. It was also not what passed and didn’t pass. Much more interesting are the bills that were never even given a fair hearing. Most – if not all – of the bills that would have raised revenues to share the pain of the current fiscal crisis were never allowed to come to a full vote in either chamber.
So what happened with all that transparency and accountability the new Governor was touting during the campaign? The Legislature stepped up and passed numerous bills that would improve transparency and accountability in state government and the only one she signed required more oversight for the burgeoning film industry. All of the measures that would have provided more oversight within state government were vetoed.
If you’re one of those folks trying to balance a job while getting a college education, filing your federal income tax forms probably hasn’t been a huge priority. But there is still time to file and there are several reasons students should file – even if they owe no income tax.