Sen. Payne: Taxes will be 'astronomical' in Bernalillo Co.

Senate Minority Whip Bill Payne, who represents part of Albuquerque's far Northeast heights, said Bernalillo County will be hit hardest by the multitude of tax increases the State Senate passed in Santa Fe last night.

In the video below, Payne compares Bernalillo County to other counties. And claims it already pays twice as much in property taxes, and levies upon levies as well as having one of the highest gross receipts taxes.

Whistleblower protection act passes NM Senate

The New Mexico State Senate today passed SB 96, on a vote of 38 to 2. This measure's sponsor Senator Wilson Beffort, R-Albuquerque, said it is aimed at protecting public employees who report illegal and unethical conduct is critical for ethics reform.

She said, "Those who retaliate would face money damages, in addition to any criminal charges they would face based on the illegal conduct that was reported."

The bill now heads to the House for consideration.

A similar measure was vetoed by Gov. Bill Richardson last year.

Op-Ed: More Energy, More Jobs, More Revenue

"We can’t afford to lose more jobs by raising taxes" state land commissioner candidate Bob Cornelius says.

As our State Legislature convenes in Santa Fe, many legislators have offered several proposals to raise revenue for our budget deficit by raising taxes on the poor by increasing taxes on food. We’ve also seen proposals to tax the “rich” by raising income taxes. There’s even talk of raising our gross receipts tax on business. I am amazed that our elected officials would even consider raising taxes during a time of recession in our state.

What the Richardson-Denish administration and the Democrat led State Legislature fail to see is that higher taxes won’t create more revenue, it will create less. If they raise the tax on food, people will shop less and go hungry more often. If they raise income taxes, people will move out of the state and look for a new job. If they raise the gross receipts tax, businesses will have to find ways to make up the financial hit and that usually means they will layoff some employees or take their company and their jobs to a state that is more business-friendly. According to a report from the NM Department of Workforce Solutions, New Mexico lost over 43,000 jobs in 2009. We can’t afford to lose more jobs by raising taxes.

The easiest way to raise revenue is to create jobs. More jobs mean more people paying income taxes, buying more food, and more businesses doing more work which increases the state’s revenue from the gross receipts tax. The most likely place for new jobs to be created is in the area of energy, both traditional forms like oil and natural gas and by creating a new energy economy to include wind, solar, clean coal, biogas, hydro and eventually nuclear.

Unfortunately for New Mexico, the same Legislature that wants to raise your taxes, has also created over-burdensome regulations on energy that have attributed to the 43,000 jobs lost and will continue to cause more people to lose their job if steps are not taken to ratify the situation.

Revise the Pit Rule instead of raising taxes

Instead of raising your taxes, the State Legislature needs to take a look at revising the “pit rule” policy created by the Oil Conservation Division. This policy is not law, but it has effectively killed thousands of jobs in the oil, natural gas, and mining industries. This rule adds an additional $150,000-$250,000 to the price of every well a company drills, depending on which part of the state the company drills. If we eased the regulation, a company could spend that $250,000 to create eight jobs that pay over $15 an hour. That was just for drilling one well. Ideally, these companies could hire more people and do more energy exploration. The company would pay more gross receipts taxes, the new employees would pay income taxes and could afford to buy more food for their families. The tax revenue created would help the budget crisis and with oil and natural gas prices recovering, a percentage of the revenue from the minerals would go into the Land Grant Permanent Fund which funds Pre-K through 12th grade education and our colleges in New Mexico.

Along with the revised regulations, I am proposing that the State Land Commissioner work with climatologists and geologists to locate ideal areas for the creation of “green job zones”. These studies would allow us to target areas of state land where renewables like solar and wind could produce the most energy. With the proposed Tres Amigas power plant outside of Clovis connecting major electrical grids and the Legislature’s mandate that local utility companies use 20% renewable energy to create electricity, there is an already made market demand for renewable energy businesses to come in, create thousands of jobs and produce billions of dollars of new revenue for this state.

This could all be accomplished in this 30 day session of the State Legislature. Instead of arguing over which taxes to raise and on whom taxes will be raised, the Legislature could be working to foster a climate for job growth and real revenue enhancements. We can solve this budget crisis by being proactive and taking a new way forward, instead of trying the old failed policies of the past.

The plan is simple: More Energy, More Jobs, More Revenue.

Denish announces border security legislation

"Increasing international border security is critical for the economic future of southern New Mexico' Denish says.

Lt. Gov. Diane Denish announced new border security legislation,to better combat security challenges facing New Mexico from increasing criminal activity across the border.

The legislation calls for the designation of four executive agency border liaisons to coordinate efforts with the federal government and counties along the border, ensuring the continued development and growth of cross-border commerce and trade between New Mexico and Mexico.

“The security of our international border is critical to the safety of all New Mexicans and we must work diligently to prevent violent crime from crossing over our Southern border,” Denish said. “We must ensure that the free flow of commerce and trade continues uninterrupted through our three ports of entry, with all assets of the state brought to bear in a prudent and efficient manner to support both federal and local security efforts, as well cross-border economic development and job creation."

In May 2008, we reported on a tour Denish took with the NM National Guard along the border. You can read about her inspection here.

After her tour nearly two years ago, Denish told us "the troops and border guards are doing a good job patrolling the area, but the Federal Government needs to continue funding the operation and the state needs to provide housing assistance."

If the legislation, introduced in Santa Fe today, is approved, Border Security Liaisons would be designated by the Departments of Homeland Security and Emergency Management, Public Safety, Transportation and the Border Authority. Each liaison would provide an international border security perspective in their respective agency's ongoing strategic planning. New Mexico Department of Transportation's liaison would focus particularly on vital ports of entry infrastructure needs.

Rep. Cote, who agreed to carry the legislation for the lieutenant governor, said the state has to securing its border with Mexico so, "we can we continue to expand cross-border commerce through our ports of entry."

House Joint Memorial 9 would require increased coordination between these formally designated liaisons and their local and federal counterparts to better leverage state resources and support future economic development in the state's border region.

Denish photo: MG Bralley

Audio: Johnson says country is bankrupt

Former New Mexico Governor Gary Johnson and 2010 Republican gubernatorial primary candidate Doug Turner protesting tax increases in front of state capitol

Former Governor Gary Johnson, a possible presidential candidate in 2012, blames New Mexico's current state budget deficit on both Gov. Bill Richardson and legislators, who voted for the last seven budgets.

"I'm just outraged over the fact that we're in a position that we're in today given the spending that's occurred over the last seven years," Johnson said.

Johnson says "spending has got to stop." In fact, he says it's continuing to increase around the country and in Washington.

He contends what's happened in New Mexico is "exactly what's happening on the national level."

"Spending is out of control. First and foremost spending needs to stop on the national level," Johnson said. "It's not that it's not stopping, its that it's increasing by the amount that it is . It's just crazy.... We're bankrupt."

He and GOP gubernatorial primary candidate Doug Turner hosted a tax protest rally outside of a snowy Roundhouse in Santa Fe on opening day of the 2010 New Mexico Legislature.

"This has just been ... drunken sailors spending every last nickle that they've had, and the notion that somehow we have to raise taxes to pay for the largess over the last seven years is unconscionable," Johnson said.

Johnson is hypercritical of the current administration adding over 4,500 new state employees to the payroll.

"Just tell me one area of state government that has improved as a result of 4,500 state employees," Johnson said. "Prudently I think always need to take in account a rainy day tomorrow and it just hasn't happened."

He is also adamantly opposed to an idea, being floated in Santa Fe to tap the state's permanent fund to help cover projected revenue shortfalls through 2011.

"We've tapped the state's permanent fund for the educational emergency that we had. The money didn't even actually go into that," Johnson said. ""Hey they got us here they can cut the spending to get us out of here."


The complete interview is available online here, or by tapping the play button on the bar below.



'Tax increases only reward reckless spending'

“Tax increases only reward reckless spending and make it tougher for small businesses to succeed and for families to make ends meet," said Turner. "New Mexico does not need another politician in the Governor’s office who doesn’t understand that higher taxes hurt both small business and struggling families,” continued Turner.

Turner said he believes that bureaucrats have not kept their promises to balance the state’s budget. “New Mexicans cannot afford more taxes to pay for the mistakes of career politicians. The answer to fixing broken government isn’t higher taxes. The answer is fixing broken government.” Turner stated.

Our interview with Turner is also online here, or by clicking the play button on the bar below.

Turner told us what he was hearing from people who walked or drove by the tax protest.

Video: Gardner responds to Richardson's speech