By Amber Wallin, Santa Fe New Mexican April 18, 2022 After more than two years of a pandemic and its related recession, it’s hard to remember life in 2019, let alone what great things were [...]
Our families and communities are safer and can thrive best when everyone has a warm, healthy place to live. However, as many as 80,000 New Mexicans are at risk of eviction – that’s equivalent to almost the entire population of Sante Fe. Worse, approximately 16 families get evicted every day in the state.
For the last several years, some state lawmakers have tried to stop storefront lenders by introducing legislation requiring a 36% cap on interest rates and fees. But the predatory lending lobby has always been able to stop these bills. This year, legislation to impose a 36% rate cap is gaining momentum.
New Mexico’s leaders have taken many actions to protect and support children and families through this uncertainty, including hunger relief funding, emergency economic relief for those left out of federal stimulus payments, a new paid-sick-leave policy, and an increase and expansion of the Working Families Tax Credit, which will put money in the hands of families who will spend it quickly and locally to provide for their children’s basic needs. These actions prevented us from losing all the progress we’ve been working for to improve well-being for all of our children.
In this legislative session, New Mexico Voices for Children will be asking lawmakers to put families with children first in policymaking. High on the list of policies that will help ensure a just recovery and equitable opportunities for all families are enacting a state-level CTC, with families facing the biggest economic challenges seeing the biggest benefits.
When you file your tax return this winter, you may be in for a very nice surprise. Thanks to the leadership of state legislators and Governor Lujan Grisham, New Mexico enacted several improvements in two tax credits that help those New Mexicans who need it most.
In homes across New Mexico, parents and caregivers have long been forced to make an impossible choice – one made even harder in the last 18 months by COVID-19. Do I care for my baby or sick family member, or do I leave them to work and earn the pay we need to survive? This choice has dire implications for babies, families, public health, and the economy.
Incremental improvements show us both that progress is possible and also that creating the nurturing environments our kids deserve and need to thrive will require bold and sustained actions and investments.
Like other public policy, tax policy can either advance or hinder racial and ethnic equity. It is never race-neutral. As the legislative session enters its final week, one important tax bill - HB 291 - is still being debated. There are numerous reasons to support (it raises revenue and makes our tax system more stable, among others), but one reason has particular meaning in a state where people of color comprise the majority of the population. This blog explains.
Before the coronavirus pandemic hit, New Mexico was beginning to move forward on a path to more broadly shared prosperity. The pandemic and recession seem to have put some of that progress on hold. But they don’t have to. We can continue to move in the right direction if we ensure we have adequate and sustainable revenue that is raised in a way that is fair.