Las Cruces Sun-News--While we think of Social Security as “our” money, the fact is, most seniors receive much more in Social Security benefits than they actually paid in while working. The majority of the money in your Social Security check comes from other sources.
Albuquerque Journal--But James Jimenez, the executive director of New Mexico Voices for Children, a nonprofit group that advocates for health care access and economic security, said he’s optimistic about the session’s final outcome. He also said changes to New Mexico’s tax code could bolster the state’s economic diversification efforts, adding that concerns raised by business groups are not new.
Carlsbad Current Argus--While the extraction of oil and natural gas in New Mexico is mostly done on public lands, the state has less authority over the process than you might think. And while the industry puts a lot of money into our public schools, it could put a lot more money in if the state made the rules. Unfortunately, because much of the public land where drilling takes place here is actually federal land, we must rely on the federal government to set the rules.
Capital and Main--“All the tax breaks in the world for business aren’t going to make a difference if people don’t have money to spend,” he says. They get more money to spend by working at better jobs. And they get better jobs through better education, and through businesses attracted to a state with better infrastructure.”
Deming Headlight--Tuesday’s meeting of the Revenue Stabilization & Tax Policy Committee included a sobering reminder of the urgent need to find more stable revenue, but it also provided cause for hope – by reforming an unstable, inequitable tax structure, New Mexico can better serve the state’s children and future.
Las Cruces Sun-News--Their top recommendation was to restore income tax rates to the level they were before the cuts of 2003. Those cuts have cost the state $500 million a year, and have gone disproportionately to those with the highest incomes, Wallin said. A family earning $25,000 a year now pays the same rate as one earning $250,000, she said.
Santa Fe New Mexican--James Jimenez, executive director of New Mexico Voices for Children, an Albuquerque-based nonprofit that works with the Annie E. Casey Foundation, said the New Mexico Legislature’s recent approval of relief measures for small businesses and residents will help mitigate those issues. However, he said, Congress also needs to enact legislation providing more help to families.
Albuquerque Journal--He said he would support a bill to expand the state’s Working Families Tax Credit during the coming session, adding, “I think there’s a commitment not to repeat the mistakes of the past.” The nonprofit group New Mexico Voices for Children also called Tuesday for an expansion of the Working Families Tax Credit, which reduces state income tax liability for low-income residents.
Carlsbad Current-Argus and Searchlight NM--“You can’t govern with that kind of instability,” said James Jimenez, executive director of the advocacy group New Mexico Voices for Children. The economic whipsawing does major harm to education, he said. “When oil prices crash – and this won’t be the last time they do – it means our universities have to charge higher tuition and our K-12 finances suffer.”
Albuquerque Journal--Pre-pandemic New Mexico saw a boom in oil and gas extraction, which was mirrored by an increase in state revenue. And while many state leaders opined that this boom was going to last indefinitely, the reality for the industry was far more grim. “In short,” the report states, “while New Mexico posted record oil and gas revenues, the oil and gas industry itself was reporting steep losses.”