The incredible importance of oil and gas to New Mexico: 31.5% of total state tax revenues

Check out the infographic below. It was created by the folks at New Mexico Tax Research Institute to illustrate the findings of a recent study the organization did on just how important oil and gas are to New Mexico:

As indicated, more than 31 percent of New Mexico tax revenues are the direct or indirect result of oil and gas activities in the state. The full report can be found here.

As poor as New Mexico is and as much as its education system struggles, it is hard to imagine what life would be like in our state without the oil and gas industries. There can be no doubt that New Mexico does need a diverse economy that, while supporting the industry, also goes beyond oil and gas and especially federal government activity. Nonetheless, oil and gas are the foundation of our state economy, are more reliable than Washington, and should be viewed as the tremendous generators of higher living standards that they are by New Mexico’s policymakers.