Happy Tax-Hike (or Tax-Cut) Day, New Mexico!

Tomorrow is the start of a new fiscal year for local governments and the state, but July 1st also brings several changes to municipal and county gross receipts taxes.

The GRT increase with the greatest impact can be found in Albuquerque. Last year, voters approved a “revenue enhancement” for infrastructure improvement at the Rio Grande Zoo and BioPark. Or, at least that was the cover story. In May, KRQE’s Chis McKee revealed that while the city “promised hundreds of millions of dollars in new construction,” actually, “a big chunk of the new … tax money won’t be used to build anything, but will actually be used to pay for some pricey new employees.”

Between 2000 and 2016, Albuquerque’s GRT rate rose from 5.8125 percent to 7.3125 percent — an astounding increase of 25.8 percent:

In addition to Albuquerque’s 1.7 percent hike, rates will rise by 4.8 percent in Vaughn and 7.3 percent in Eunice.

In Luna County, though, there’s good news — rates will fall. In the unincorporated area, the GRT will decline by 1.8 percent. In Columbus and Deming, the cuts will be 1.6 percent.