Tax Fairness & Budget Adequacy Publications
Tax cuts have cost New Mexico $516 million in lost revenue but unemployment remains high
Fact Sheet Corporate tax cuts backed by the Martinez administration were supposed to make New Mexico more "business friendly," which would bring jobs to the Land of Enchantment. Despite the high cost of these tax cuts - which has led to deep spending cuts in education, health care and public safety - unemployment in New Mexico remains stubbornly high.
How revenue from HB 202 could be invested in New Mexico
Infographic In the world of revenue-estimates and budget-making, numbers can seem pretty abstract. This infographic takes a look at how the revenue provisions in HB 202 might actually be invested to stem more harmful spending cuts.
Adequately Funding Essential Services
Presentation Drawn from our policy brief A Blueprint for a State in the Red, this looks at New Mexico's budget problems and the ways lawmakers could address the lack of revenue in order to avoid more harmful spending cuts. Presented to the League of Women Voters of NM.
The Voices of Children in New Mexico
Presentation Looks at some possible funding sources for New Mexico's child abuse prevention programs, as well as presents the NM S.A.F.E. campaign as a good model for determining if legislation would protect future victims from violent crime. Presented at the UNM Health Sciences Center’s conference, Childhood Adversity: The Impact of Maltreatment—Definitions, Prevention and Intervention Strategies.
Improving the best anti-poverty measure in New Mexico
Fact Sheet The Earned Income Tax Credit has long been called the "best anti-poverty" measure to come out of Congress. New Mexico's state version, the Working Families Tax Credit, is also a powerful poverty-fighting tool. But legislators could make it better. (State-level data on recipiency)
New Mexico’s Working Families Tax Credit
Report In New Mexico, the Working Families Tax Credit is one of the most sensible parts of our tax code: it encourages work, helps to raise hard-working families out of poverty, and benefits almost 300,000 children, while also pumping millions back into local communities. Increasing the credit is a smart investment in our businesses, working families, and future. (State-level data on recipiency; appendix contains county- and legislative-district-level data on recipiency)
Why we shouldn’t tax food in New Mexico
Fact Sheet Reinstatement on the tax on food is likely to come up in the 2017 legislative session even though New Mexico has the second highest rate of children who don't always have enough to eat. This infographic looks at food insecurity in New Mexico and which other states in the nation tax food. (State-level data on food insecurity, SNAP usage)
A Health Impact Assessment of a Tax on Food Purchases in NM
Presentation Looks at how reinstating the tax on groceries would impact the health of New Mexico’s already-food-insecure families. Presented at the NM Public Health Association’s Health Policy Legislative Forum. (State- and county-level data on food insecurity; state-level data on economic security)
New Mexico Public School Funding through the Great Recession and Beyond
Report A lawsuit currently working its way thought the New Mexico court system asserts that the state has failed to provide school funding sufficient for the education of all school-age children in the state, as required by the New Mexico constitution. This report supports those arguments.
Funding Early Childhood Services in New Mexico
Presentation Gives a brief overview of how the state collects tax revenue and creates the operating budget, the reasons behind the current revenue shortfall, and a look at how the state's $14 billion Land Grant Permanent School Fund could be used to fund early childhood care and education programs. Presented to a coalition of early childhood care and education providers in Deming.