New Mexico Taxpayers' Opportunity—Prosperity Safeguard (TOPS)
Amendment
Prosper (prŏs'per) v. to fare well
To be prosperous, to have our friends and neighbors
be prosperous is our aspiration. Economic opportunity and the prosperity
that evolves from it should be New Mexico's future. It is not far
fetched to foresee average annual incomes in New Mexico up by $6,500
per person. How do we achieve such an increase in prosperity?
The key to prosperity is to instill more discipline
in and control over New Mexico's state government. More discipline
and control enable tax rates to be reduced. Reduced tax rates spur
economic growth by allowing hard earned money to be spent or saved
by those who earn it.
The Rio Grande Foundation is pleased to document
state government's spending and taxing problems in detail and offer
solutions that generate prosperity. Your comments are welcome. Please
send email to info@riograndefoundation.org.
Executive Summary
by Kelly S. Ward and Harry Messenheimer
Ensuring liberty, opportunity and prosperity for all New Mexicans
begins with curtailing the growth of government. Ineffective and
unnecessary government growth means that our tax rates have remained
too high. What to do? Taxpayers themselves must take control. Except
when the approved by a vote of the people, the legislature would
be limited by Constitutional Amendment to annual spending increases
equaling the rate of population growth plus the rate of inflation.
In other words, absent explicit taxpayer approval real per capita
spending would remain constant.
Controlling Spending in New
Mexico
by Kenneth M. Brown and Harry Messenheimer
State government spending is out of control. Real per capita spending
on Medicaid is up 210% over the past 13 years. In public education,
per capita spending is up 19% over the same period. The ineffective
and unnecessary growth of government has severely reduced prosperity
in New Mexico.
Controlling Taxing in New Mexico
by Matt Mitchell and Harry Messenheimer
Get the truth. Much has been written about how the Legislature and
Governor have cut income tax rates over the past two years. Yet
other prosperity reducing tax rates have either remained too high
or gone up. Tax rate increases outweigh tax rate decreases. In fact,
the net estimate of all tax rate changes is revenue increases: $70
million in FY2004, $124 million in FY2005 and $106 million in FY2006.
New Mexico is not on a path to prosperity.
Tax Legislation
Guide, 2003 and 2004
by Matt Mitchell
Want more detail? We have documented all tax legislation signed
into law over the last two years. We have deciphered the complex
and confusing laws, summarized them into language all can understand
and indicated the impact on revenues and tax policy. Rio Grande
Foundation is happy to provide you with the complete citizen's
guide to tax legislation.
The Spending Problem
PDF MS
Word
by Sarah Hunt
At a glance find out where and how much the state legislature
has spent on your government. General fund spending since 1992 is
detailed in these tables.
State Revenue Changes
PDF
MS Word
by Matt Mitchell
Want revenue estimates of recent tax changes? At a glance you can
view the estimated revenue impact of the tax law changes from the
2003 and 2004 legislative sessions. These tables are a fiscal summary
companion to the Tax
Legislation Guide, 2003 and 2004.
Effective
Income Tax Rates in NM on the Way Up
by Harry Messenheimer, Ph.D.
Effective rates of tax on income have actually gone up rather than
down since beginning of Richardson Administration.
Treat
Sick Tax Policy: First, Undo the Harm from 2004 Legislature
by Harry Messenheimer, Ph.D.
Health care providers have long needed relief from New Mexico’s
gross receipts tax. But the 2004 legislative session produced a
bad law. It provided unfair relief to those involved in “managed
care,” making matters worse for those engaged in traditional fee-for-service
care. Moreover, it will result in harm to the economy, hurt the
consumer and worsen the health care “crisis.”
|
