Thoughts on the special session

Here is the Gov.’s press release for the Special Session which is now taking place in Santa Fe.

RGF’s supports rebates for those who file and pay income taxes of $500 individually or $1,000 as a couple.

We DO NOT support rebates for those who don’t file and/or pay personal income taxes and those MAY be unconstitutional under NM’s anti-donation clause because that represents a “donation” from the State to these people.

Rather than collecting all of this money and then rebating it to the taxpayers, New Mexico’s Legislature must act in an upcoming session to reform its tax code in ways to make it more business friendly and help diversify its economy.

Economically, New Mexico loses “bang for its buck” by having an anti-business tax code and then suddenly (almost randomly) sending out checks. We need business owners and entrepreneurs to be able to plan around New Mexico’s tax policy and for those policies to be more pro-business.

That might be done via “delayed repeal” which is a section of a bill that provides for the future repeal of a section of law. Repeal eliminates a provision of law; sunset eliminates an agency of government.

Also, the Rail Runner is not a viable daily transportation option for an overwhelming majority of New Mexicans unless they live in Albuquerque and work for State government in Santa Fe. It has never made sense. Further subsidies on top of what taxpayers already pay for the Rail Runner are completely unnecessary.