Tax Fairness & Budget Adequacy Blog

Lawmakers talk a lot about accountability when they’re spending taxpayer money on programs and services, and that’s entirely appropriate. We want to get the most from our investments in the state’s human resources, systems, and infrastructure. Programs that don’t work should be overhauled or de-funded. Programs that work well need to be replicated or expanded to better serve unmet needs. Our lawmakers take this part of their job seriously. Too bad the same cannot be said when it comes to lawmakers giving away state revenue in the form of tax breaks.

The massive state tax cut passed by the Legislature had no accountability measures. No triggers, no targets, no claw-backs to ensure that the tax breaks wouldn’t cost the state if they didn’t deliver. Lawmakers reduced the amount of money coming into the state’s budget—money that could have been used to train our future workforce—and instead gave that money to Intel’s shareholders in the hopes that they would expand operations in New Mexico. Not only did Intel not expand operations in New Mexico, the company just announced they are reducing their Rio Rancho workforce by 400 employees. What a kick in the teeth!

When times got tough, my parents never told us we had to do without eyeglasses, visits to the dentist, or enough food. Our health and education were a priority for my parents. So when they couldn’t make ends meet, dad went out and got a second job. When we all got a little older and were in high school and college, mom went back to work. Instead of making us do without, they went out and raised more money to make sure we were healthy and well educated. Not so with New Mexico’s lawmakers.

It’s odd that accountability measures rarely seem to show up in tax bills. And yet, the Legislature has, three times now, demanded the ultimate accountability measure—a tax expenditure report. The Governor, however, who vetoed the tax expenditure bill practically in the same breath that she signed the omnibus tax bill, doesn’t seem to want any accountability at all.

Media reports on the big tax bill that passed in the closing minutes of the 2013 legislative session noted that while there was little Senate debate and no House debate on the bill, the components of that tax bill had been previously debated in committee. What these media accounts failed to report is that the members of the only committee that actually debated all of those components—the House Taxation and Revenue Committee—voted against the big tax bill 9-5. In other words, those who knew what was in the bill and had studied it clearly didn’t think it was good tax policy.

Tax day is right around the corner, but some low-income New Mexico families will not file a return because they do not owe any income tax or are not getting a refund for taxes that were withheld from their earnings. That can be a big mistake. Many such families may qualify for refundable tax credits. “Refundable” means that working families can file and receive the credit even if they earn too little to pay taxes and/or are not getting a refund for taxes that were withheld from their earnings.

It sounds like something out of a political thriller movie: hastily cobbled together legislation is railroaded through with a vote in the closing minutes of a session. The truncated debate that takes place is woefully uninformed because no one has had time to read the bill. Nor is there time for public input. This scenario did not play out in Hollywood, but in Santa Fe when legislators were given 35 pages worth of amendments to House bill 641 and told to vote on it before the clock struck 12. What they were not given was any meaningful information about the fiscal impact of what they were voting on. In fact, they were misled.

The EITC has been making the lives of workers a little easier for more than 37 years. Yet the IRS estimates that nationwide one in five eligible workers still miss out on the EITC, either because they don’t claim it when filing, or don’t file a tax return. This is money that can make a difference.

You’ve probably heard about the automatic spending cuts to defense programs that will take place unless the U.S. Congress acts before the end of the year. What you’ve heard less about is how New Mexico will also lose more than $41 million in federal funds to state social programs. Education programs will be hardest hit with cuts that will mean fewer teachers, bigger class sizes, and reduced training for the kind of high-tech jobs the state hopes to draw.

A whopping 90 percent of the small business owners surveyed nationally said that large corporations use loopholes to avoid paying taxes that the small businesses pay. They also view this as a problem, saying it harms their business. When it comes to corporate tax loopholes, New Mexico has a doozy. What’s more, New Mexico is the only state in the western U.S. that allows multi-state corporations to have this particular advantage over its home-grown businesses. And that is shameful.