By TSIPORAH NEPHESHExecutive Director
New Mexico Thrives
When you finish eating at a restaurant, you get a bill, and you pay for it. Simple, right? But what if you just left, without paying the tab? What if you “dined and dashed”?
Most would say, that’s not right. But that’s how state government has been run for eight years. Schools have been in session. Cars have traveled our roads. New Mexicans have gotten the flu or broken an arm and have needed medical services. But state government has dined and dashed. The schools have been starved. The roads have been crumbling. Health care has been underfunded.
For years, bad tax policies have forced hard-working families in New Mexico to shoulder more of the responsibility for paying for the things we agree we all need. It's time to change course. New Mexican families need us to change course.
It’s time to pay the tab, just as you would in a restaurant. In other words, “$300 mil pays the bill.”
With $300 million in new, stable revenue, New Mexico can begin to pay for the things we need and help level out the boom-and-bust cycle of the oil and gas industry. If we want to improve our schools (moonshot, anyone?), if we want to fix our roads, if we want affordable health care, then we need to pay the bill, and $300 million will begin to do that. Everyone wants the good meal and quality service, but we’ve got to pay for it. It’s the responsible thing to do.
Doing things responsibly isn’t always easy. Let’s be honest: No one likes to talk about taxes. It’s a dirty word. But without taxes, we can’t have things like great teachers and roads without giant holes.
The state Legislature is considering taxes right now. Some are more popular than others: taxing internet sales and increasing the arcane hospital tax (even hospitals agree!). And some are more difficult: making the rich pay their fair share; ending the 15-year, tax-free honeymoon that out-of-state corporations have enjoyed; and limiting the capital gains deduction.
But New Mexico, we have to do this now. Our state has an amazing opportunity, right now. An opportunity to fundamentally change how we educate our children. An opportunity for major public works projects that fix our infrastructure and provide great-paying jobs. An opportunity to sew up the holes in our social safety net that has been ripped apart by years of skipping out on the check.
We are ready to go big on New Mexico’s future, and we’re going to need $300 million in new, stable revenue to make it happen and change course. New Mexico’s families and businesses can’t wait while our schools, public safety, transportation, infrastructure projects, and other critical services limp along on life-support. It’s time to change course.
So as you hear about legislative budget proposals in the coming days, use one simple litmus test: does it create $300 million of new revenue? If not, send the meal back until the Legislature does the right thing.
Remember, $300 mil pays the bill. Anything less leaves a mess!
