Las Cruces voters to decide on massive tax hike this fall
In what can only be described as a “tone deaf” move the Las Cruces City Council this week adopted a proposed ballot measure (to appear on City voters’ ballots this November) to decide whether to increase the City’s gross receipts tax rate by .5625% from the current rate of 8.0625% to 8.625%. Las Cruces’ GRT is already higher than either Albuquerque’s or Rio Rancho’s. More pressing is the fact that the proposed GRT increase would (if adopted) put Las Cruces’ rate above that of El Paso (which has a sales tax rate of 8.25%).
The Gross Receipts Tax is a “regressive” tax which hits the poor hardest.
It is also hard to justify such a tax when the State has been piling up multi billion dollar surpluses every year but inflation has hit New Mexicans’ bottom lines.
Considering that Las Cruces currently taxes its citizens at 1.5625% (the state rate is 5.0% while the County is 1.5%) we are talking about a 36% tax increase for Las Cruces government. That is a massive and unnecessary blow at a time of record state budget surpluses.
