Setting Ortiz Y Pino straight

Jerry Ortiz Y Pino is one of the New Mexico Legislature’s most left-wing members. When he’s not trying to impeach President Bush he writes a column for Albuquerque’s weekly alternative newspaper The Alibi .
In a recent column, the usually “progressive” Ortiz Y Pino struck a somewhat different tone in arguing against Mayor Chavez’s proposal to cut Albuquerque’s gross receipts tax. As I point out in my follow-up letter to The Alibi Ortiz Y Pino needs to understand that the gross receipts tax is regressive — that is it hurts the poor worse than it hurts those of us with more money.
So, unless Ortiz Y Pino is simply a lover of government and not a real progressive who is concerned with the welfare of the poor (a real possibility when you consider this), he should come down in favor of cutting the GRT. Unfortunately, in this day and age, both parties seem to care more about growing government and acquiring power than actually helping their constituents.