Based on a recent story in the Albuquerque Journal one might be led to believe that large numbers of Texans are moving to New Mexico for reasons including lower tax burdens to weather and LBGT rights. The story smacks of a journalist attempting to find a trend where none exists.

In reality according to the Census Bureau’s 2022 data, the number of people moving to NM from Texas virtually matches the number moving the opposite way. As the story notes, NM has superior weather and is generally more pleasing in terms of its scenery. Property taxes are high in Texas, but lower overall than New Mexico.

The story DOES note, “Despite its high property taxes, Texas has been experiencing a higher population growth than New Mexico. While their population is growing at an annual rate of roughly 16%, New Mexico’s population is growing at a rate of 2.8%.” That really illustrates that the overall trend is actually people moving TO Texas, not as often to New Mexico.

While New Mexico SHOULD be favorably positioned to benefit from the trend of America’s aging population and retirement boom (bad schools and relatively limited job pools aren’t factors while good weather is) That likely won’t happen until New Mexico eliminates its Social Security tax. It is one of only a handful of states to charge such a tax and that constantly places New Mexico on lists of places that are unattractive retirement destinations. 

A more detailed analysis of New Mexico’s massive surplus and what is being done or not done with it would be much more interesting and worthwhile.

On this week’s Tipping Point interview Paul talks to Larry Behrens Communications Director of Power the Future, a pro-energy non-profit that works nationwide including here in New Mexico.

Paul and Larry discuss the start of the COVID emergency four years ago and their efforts to push back against the Gov.’s misguided and special-interest-favoring approach to COVID restrictions which destroyed numerous businesses and harmed New Mexico children (to name two impacts). Ultimately her policies failed to improve New Mexico’s COVID outcomes.

The rest of the episode is dedicated to energy topics at the state and federal level from the recent legislative session and “clean fuels standard” and NM’s ongoing boom. They also discuss the latest from the Biden administration and their lack of permitting for LNG projects.

RGF president Paul Gessing recently headed out on the road and gave a talk the Alamogordo Rotary club. Alamogordo is a great, conservative community and his presentation on the recent legislative session was well-received. Among the Rotarians was Bob Flotte (and his guest Mike Durler) of KHII Radio. Paul talks to Mike every Tuesday morning from 8:30am to 9am about issues facing New Mexico.

He also caught up with Mike Shinaberry who also frequently has Paul on as a guest on his radio show. Mike was kind enough to give Paul a tour of the New Mexico Museum of Space History. The museum is definitely something to check out if you are in the area.

If your Rotary or other civic organization would like to have Paul as a guest speaker, you can reach out to: info@riograndefoundation.org 

Among the items on display at the museum was a 3.7 billion year old piece of moon rock brought back by New Mexico astronaut Harrison Schmitt and a Tornado jet fighter used for training by the German military at Holloman AFB.

It is hard to quantify just how big the oil and gas surpluses are and how much the industry does for New Mexico’s economy (and how poorly the money is being managed by our Gov. and Legislature). But check out the graphic below from the New Mexico Oil and Gas Association. The State received a mind-blowing $7.5 billion in JUST the general fund in FY 2023. An additional $6.4 billion was sent to various permanent funds and other uses. That is simply future spending.

Simply put, as the chart below highlights, as of FY 2022, the oil and gas industry could have paid the entirety of New Mexico’s general fund burden. Given the current oil and gas revenue situation, it would be pretty easy for the State tax burden for ALL New Mexicans to be ZERO. Of course some fiscal restraint and reduction in subsidies/mandates etc. could improve upon that.

So, why ARE New Mexicans paying ANY State taxes?

Paul recently had a piece in National Review Online which details why New Mexico is a “Rich State with Poor People”

In a second op-ed Paul discusses the fact that after four years New Mexico Still has no limits on public health emergencies.

Paul experienced an electronic candidate nominating petition issue.

The 4 day school week saga continues.

No royalty rate increase was padded in the Legislature this session: Land Commissioner Garcia Richard reacted by taking her “marbles” and going home.

RGF recently requested cost information relating to County EV’s. These are costly equipment.

RGF provides comment on the Biden/Ben Ray Lujan vehicle kill switch.

The House approved the Laken Riley Act, mandating that immigration authorities detain non-citizens charged with crimes. All NM Dems voted “no.”

San Francisco voters recently (overwhelmingly) adopted Prop. F which will require single adults on city welfare to be screened for drug use. Paul wants to make New Mexico as conservative as San Francisco.

In the recent Texas primary only six of the 16 anti-school-choice incumbents who ran for re-election won. Six lost outright and four were forced into May 28 runoffs. Traditionally, incumbents enter runoffs as underdogs because a majority of voters have already expressed themselves against them.

Biden is wrong on shrinkflation of Snickers Bars. 

New Mexico has long been incredibly reliant on the federal government. Thanks to its high poverty levels, federal land ownership, AND the large number of federal installations (with a small private sector), New Mexico receives an astonishing $3.26 in federal funding for every $1.oo paid according to a new report from Wallethub. That makes New Mexico the 2nd-most dependent state in the nation trailing only Alaska.

New Mexico’s federal dependency seems to transcend its recent boom in oil and gas which has not been used by its political leadership to diversity its economy. The Wallethub report states the following about New Mexico:

Wallethub rates it a “high tax, high dependency” state as the chart below notes:

According to a news story from KOB TV, the City of Albuquerque Transit Department has created a new “ride sharing service” that is described as being “just like Uber and Lyft.” The system is touted as a year-long pilot program meant to serve “underserved areas” which currently include the South Valley and the North Valley areas. The service is set to launch on Monday, March 18. According to a separate story from KRQE the “service is free for customers, but it will cost the city about $26 per ride.”

This is exactly the type of government overreach Rio Grande Foundation takes issue with. We have already requested the budgeted annual cost and source of the funds for this program.

The following story from KOAT 7 is excellent. RGF’s president plays a small role in it, but overall the story explores how more and more taxpayer dollars keep being allocated to build on ostensibly “private” stadium for the NM United soccer team. We flagged the additional $16 million being allocated to “improvements at Balloon Fiesta Park” recently from the Legislature’s capital outlay bill. That comes on top of another $13 million already dedicated to improvements at Balloon Fiesta Park.

The team plans to put up $30 million for the stadium, so it seems pretty far-fetched that taxpayers are putting up about half the cost of the stadium just for “improvements” while the team is paying full-freight on the stadium for just $30 million.

Obviously, there WILL be improvements to Balloon Fiesta Park related to the stadium. Why weren’t those made before? The answer to that seems self-evident. Are taxpayer dollars going to be used to build the stadium itself? It is hard to believe how they won’t be and who will be accounting for those dollars in the construction process.

Watch the full story below:

New Mexico politicians have a tendency to tout “democracy” but only if they get their way. One might think that this would be simple since the entire State is “blue” and controlled by Democrats, but Gov. Lujan Grisham has repeatedly rejected the Legislature’s actions including her latest attempt to eradicate 4-day school weeks.

Now, New Mexico Land Commissioner Stephanie Garcia Richard has decided that the Democrat-controlled Legislature’s refusal to increase royalty (tax) rates gives her the “green light” to refuse to lease certain prime oil and gas lands under her control. Someone who knew nothing about New Mexico politics might expect a standoff like this to occur in a state with a partisan split between the Land Office and the Legislature, but they are all “progressive” Democrats.

Will Garcia Richard relent or is she going to hold these leases “hostage” until she gets her way in the Legislature? Will legal action bring the Commissioner into line? While Garcia Richard claims to be acting for the benefit of NM school children to get the “best deal,” the reality is that oil and gas is taxed differently in different states. New Mexico, for example, imposes its gross receipts tax (levied at 7 or 8%) on numerous aspects of the oil and gas industry. This is only one of many differences that make direct royalty rate comparisons a challenge.

All 112 members of the Legislature are up for election this fall. A more moderate/conservative Legislature likely won’t give the Land Commissioner what she wants.

With New Mexico’s legislative candidate filing deadline looming on Tuesday RGF president Paul Gessing on Friday, March 8, attempted to login to the Secretary of State’s Candidate Nominating Petition. Sadly, as the brief video below highlights, Paul was unable to sign. You can see the screenshot below and a brief video of the failed attempt below. Gessing has contacted the SoS office and they achieved the same (failed) result. They have been very helpful and are working on the problem, but this is a serious issue as the electronic petition signing system is implemented.

Update: Gessing received a return call from the SoS office. They indicated that there was a “duplicate record” although it was clearly inactive and they are contacting Bernalillo County today to remove the duplicate record. We will update readers on the situation.

Update 2: The SoS office called back again this afternoon and has resolved the situation. Kudos to them for their quick action. Hopefully similar problems are rare and do not plague too many people or campaigns.

https://youtu.be/mo0UE-YkOLo

The Biden Administration (with the support of people like NM Sen. Ben Ray Lujan) has been pushing for a “kill switch” controlled by government to be included on your automobile. Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) offered an amendment in Congress to eliminate the “kill switch” but it wasn’t adopted.

So, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) recently collected public comments on the issue. The Rio Grande Foundation offered the following comments in opposition:

I have serious concerns about the proposed regulation:

For starters, whatever technology is ultimately settled on, cars will become even more expensive: New car prices have already risen by
60 percent over the last decade, and this regulation will only increase costs.

False positives will endanger consumers: Even with 99.9% accuracy, you could have a million false positives per day. This means your car won’t start or may automatically slow down or even pull over while you’re driving. This is not safe, especially in high crime or isolated areas of my state New Mexico (and other rural areas)
.
Personal privacy is at risk: Car thefts are on the rise, and now cyber thieves will potentially have hours of recording and monitoring of your car rides.

Your rights are compromised: This intrusive “Big Brother” technology threatens your personal freedom and presumption of innocence.

Even NHTSA doubts that such technology will work as intended, writing:
“Little data is available…on which combination of sensors and indicators of driver state, if any, would achieve greater accuracy and reliability of impairment detection.”

For all of these and other reasons, we oppose this proposal.

You can find this comment at Regulation.gov by searching for: lte-wiud-nr78

Few education policy issues can unite the liberal Searchlight NM, teachers unions, Republican legislators, and the Rio Grande Foundation, but apparently the fight to allow rural school districts to keep 4-day school weeks is it. In fact, the Searchlight article does an excellent job highlighting specific examples/stories, but Lujan Grisham took it upon herself to impose the 4-day week anyway.

Here is a fairly exhaustive list of why she is wrong:

• During the 2023 legislative session the Legislature debated and passed HB 130 which was signed into law by Gov. Lujan Grisham to add hours to the school calendar. Instructional time went from 990 hours to 1,140 hours.
• On a bipartisan basis the Legislature (this year) explicitly rejected mandating 5-day school weeks.
• The cost to taxpayers of adopting the 5-day seek would be in excess of $100 million annually.
• New Mexico parents prefer 4-day school weeks in districts that have them with 69% of elementary parents saying they “definitely prefer the 4-day schedule” and another 15% saying they “probably” prefer 4-days.
• While Albuquerque Public Schools does not have 4-day schools Albuquerque Federation Teachers President Dr. Ellen Bernstein spoke out on the issue telling KOAT the proposed changes are a “false solution” to a “complex problem.”
• Bernstein is right, teachers like 4-day school weeks.
• Students also like them overwhelmingly with 85% of students say they like the 4-day school week “a lot.”
• Socorro Public Schools Superintendent recently said the following, “Teacher morale has been off the charts since we started this (4-day week). Right now I have 22% of my teachers that drive in from other communities. I have another about 9-11% that can retire tomorrow if they wanted to, but they’re staying because of the four-day week,”
• Why would the Gov. or any bureaucrat in Santa Fe tell students in some of the most far-flung parts of New Mexico how many days they need to go to school per week?
• Some of New Mexico’s highest performing districts have 4-day school weeks. There is no serious evidence that 4-day weeks harm student outcomes.
• Athletes in rural parts of New Mexico often travel long distances around New Mexico for sporting events. “Friday Night Lights” (and other sporting events involving up to 5 hours of travel each way) don’t cause missed class time under a 4-day school week.
• One benefit of 4-day school weeks cited by parents, teachers, and students alike is the ability to schedule medical appointments and other essential activities on Fridays without missing time in class.

Unlike last year when the Gov. vetoed large swaths of the “tax omnibus” bill (HB 252), Gov. Lujan Grisham signed this year’s bill. Using FY 2026 numbers as the baseline (they change with time), the bill reduces personal income taxes by $159 million annually, increases capital gains taxes by $61 million, and raises corporate income taxes by $16 million annually.

So, overall, the bill is about an $88 million tax cut with numerous other subsidies and credits (some being worthwhile while others being abject wastes of money, like the EV tax credit). Meanwhile, the Gov. signed a budget that increases government spending by $653 million. With a $3.5 billion this is a lame effort (only 2.5% of the surplus is being returned in the form of tax cuts). It will certainly not “move the needle” for New Mexico in terms of economic standing. In fact, because the tax hikes will hit businesses directly one could argue that the tax bill actually makes New Mexico LESS attractive to business.

The Gov. also seems hellbent on forcing rural school districts into line with 5-day school weeks. She vetoed a provision inserted into the budget on a bipartisan basis that would have prohibited the Gov. from using the budget to force 5 day school weeks.

In this week’s conversation Paul and Wally discuss a fantastic editorial/cartoon in ABQ Journal Sunday.

The Journal was reacting to the Gov. speaking to the ABQ Chamber of Commerce. Paul addressed the event immediately and explained that the Legislature did little for NM business this session.

Wallethub report: New Mexico is a good state to be poor. 

Santa Fe County is pursuing a discredited plastic bag ban.

MLG: we need more housing (and signs bill subsidizing housing). Also MLG: we need to add costly new regulations on housing.

A few gun/crime bills that passed this session have been signed by MLG. Paul and Wally have thoughts.

We recently requested of Bernalillo County the following: The number of EV charging stations (current or planned), their locations, charging level, and cost per unit. Here’s what we received:

Existing units can be found at (unfortunately, no price information was provided on existing units):

1 single level two charger with 2 ports at Alvarado.
1 single level two charger with 2 ports at Rio Bravo Rail Station.
1 single level two charger with 2 ports at Montaño Rail Station.
1 single level two charger with 2 ports at Los Ranchos Rail Station.

Per the County’s response, the County has applied for several grants, presumably from the federal government. Here are the details (if received).

4 level three charges with 2 ports each at Route 66 estimated at $2,100,000.

Upgrade the existing level two charger currently at Alvarado to a faster (higher amp) level 3 charger. This addition and upgrade is estimated at $875,000.

1 level two charger with two ports at Los Padillas Community Center estimated at $64,793. Project totaling $457,751.

1 level two charger with two ports at Los Vecinos Community Center estimated at $97,190. Project totaling $222,692.

1 level two charger with two ports at Paradice Hills Community Center estimated at $80,992. Project totaling $394,964.

1 level two charger with dual ports at Westside Community Center estimated at $80,992. Project totaling $470,451.

We have been repeatedly told by advocates for EV’s and the deployment of their charging stations that we are applying higher costs to EV chargers than their real costs. But, when Highlands University has a Level 1 (the lowest level) charging station that cost $11,181.47. Western NM’s charging station cost $101,682.91, and CNM’s level 2 charging stations cost $45,000 per unit, it is clear that EV charging units cost more than their advocates would have us believe.

Sunday’s Albuquerque Journal included some basic truths. the editorial cartoon below was fantastic as is so often the case with John Trever. And, the editorial which called out Gov. Lujan Grisham for her recent “happy talk” remarks to the Albuquerque Chamber of Commerce is also worthy.

New Mexico’s economic numbers look decent right now. Unemployment is low, but that is being driven almost entirely by the massive oil and gas boom. Crime, education, and workforce participation (to name 3 under MLG’s control) are not great and nothing serious is being done about them. We at the Rio Grande Foundation have outlined a path forward on taxes, education, and workforce participation (simply plug those terms into the search box of this site), but MLG is (as Trever notes) taking most of her cues from California instead.

A few weeks ago I wrote in this space about the misguided approach of our legislators and many activists that influence them to taxation. Often they focus on “progressive” taxation rather than overall tax burdens or pro-business tax policy. This session was no different.

According to a new report from Wallethub, New Mexico is “succeeding.” In fact, it is the 6th-best state overall for the “poor” to pay taxes. Click on map below.

Interestingly, this is one area where blue and red states don’t really follow any particular pattern. Deep red Alaska is the very best state to be poor while Montana is 2nd. Blue Illinois is the worst state to be poor and blue Washington and Hawaii follow.

In a separate chart the best state for wealthy taxpayers follows a somewhat more consistent pattern with zero income states being the best places to be. Interestingly, despite New Mexico’s massive oil and gas wealth and surpluses in recent years, both the middle class (middle column) and upper class (right column) pay higher than average taxes as a percent of their incomes while the poor pay the 6th-lowest.

On this week’s interview Paul talks to attorney and author Philip K. Howard. Howard is Chair of Common Good and a bestselling author, and has advised both parties on needed reforms. In his new book, Everyday Freedom (Rodin Books, 2024), he pinpoints the source of powerlessness that is fraying American culture and causing public failure and offers a bold vision of simpler governing frameworks to re-empower Americans in their daily choices. Paul and Howard discuss the US Constitution as a framework for our society and public sector labor unions as villains in driving division and failure in American society.

Apparently members of Santa Fe County Commission want people in the county to use more plastic. At least that’s how we’d have to interpret their plan to consider banning plastic bags in the unincorporated areas of the County.

While these bans have always been known to have a dubious environmental impact, the best known study of the environmental impact of plastic bag bans was recently done in New Jersey (a state with such a ban on the books). According to the study of the ban which was adopted in 2022, “Plastic consumption in New Jersey spiked by nearly three times from the use of heavier, reusable bags, increasing greenhouse gas emissions from the use of bags by 500 percent.”

Furthermore, “The reusable bags were used only 2 or 3 times before being misplaced or disposed of—not the 16 times needed to positively impact the environment.”

Government policies always have their unintended consequences. Plastic bag bans are no different. Not only should Santa Fe’s County Commission reject such a ban, but if they care about the environment, the City of Santa Fe, Los Alamos, Silver City, and Las Cruces city governments should end their bans.

The Gov. has signed HB195. The basic idea is to subsidize “affordable” housing (below market price) near employment centers. 

On the front page of this morning’s Albuquerque Journal, Gov. Lujan Grisham touts her “accomplishments” for business in New Mexico. While it would be hard NOT to do something for business with the kinds of budget surpluses the State has had in New Mexico in recent years, it is hard to see how anything that happened this session will make business owners and others from across the nation sit up and take notice about New Mexico.

For starters, the BEST thing about the session was something that DIDN’T happen. The Gov. said nothing about a possible paid family leave mandate funded in part by a new tax on businesses (SB 3/HB6). Thankfully, the Legislature narrowly avoided passing this anti-business measure.

Of course crime and education which are always major issues for businesses were not seriously addressed in any way. Even the Gov. expressed frustration about the lack of action on crime (although her actions are focused more on taking away guns). On education the Gov. remains focused on forcing unwilling rural districts to adopt 5-day school weeks. 

They DID slightly reduce personal income taxes but raised capital gains and corporate taxes. The Gov. COULD veto these, but we’re not holding our breath. Ultimately, even with a $3.5 billion surplus GRT reform was not even discussed (this analysis is based on a bill that addressed GRT and corporate income taxes from last session). Until that happens OR other taxes are seriously reduced, New Mexico will not be considered “business friendly.”

Our tax dollars are now subsidizing the marijuana industry and it makes no sense (regardless of your views on marijuana).

State capital outlay bill has $16 million for UnitedStadium.

PNM adds EV subsidies to existing/new subsidies and mandates. Also, Mercedes Benz said they’ll continue producing gas powered cars after 2030.

An electric car charger has been pulled from the market over fears it could be hacked and used to attack the power grid.

A new report says 0.37% of vehicles on the road in NM are electric.

Is this article by 4 “progressive” NM legislators the most out of touch article on crime yet?