Latest Wallethub report: New Mexicans bear heavy tax burdens (despite great oil wealth)

A new report from Wallethub finds that New Mexicans bear the 14th-highest burden among US states. Amazingly, this is true despite the fact that 40% of New Mexico’s budget is generated from oil and gas revenues and Wallethub DID NOT include oil and gas revenues among those borne by New Mexicans.

Given this astonishing figure one MIGHT expect that New Mexico’s Legislature would have focused like a laser on reducing those tax burdens during the recently-completed 2023 session which saw the State blessed with a $3.6 billion surplus. Sadly, the tax bill passed by the Legislature is a mess of conflicting tax hikes and tax cuts that fail to address New Mexico’s economic needs or the needs of its citizens for broad-based tax relief. Even the bill’s welcome gross receipts reductions are phased in over several years and are contingent on the state generating historically-high tax revenues.

A few of the Wallethub report’s charts can be found below:

Source: WalletHub

Fundamentally, New Mexico’s spending is far too high and has grown rapidly in recent years.