Letters

From the October 2007 issue

(Page 2 of 2)

Gov. Bill Richardson has indeed reduced New Mexico’s top income tax rate from 8.2 percent to 4.9 percent, but calling him “one of the country’s most tightfisted executives” is a bit of a stretch (“Presidential Scouting Reports,” June).

After all, Richardson just signed a one-year budget increase of greater than 10 percent, fueled by the massive growth of New Mexico’s oil and gas industries. This is not an anomaly: Richardson’s spending has far outpaced the combined effects of inflation and population growth every year he’s been in office.

An example of this profligacy is the $400 million taxpayers are being forced to spend on a commuter rail boondoggle that will soon travel a sparsely populated route from Albuquerque to Santa Fe. Because of priorities like this, Richardson has missed a golden opportunity, in light of the inflow of oil revenue, to further reduce New Mexico’s onerous tax burden. This tax burden includes a convoluted and harmful gross receipts tax that is applied as a sales tax, often at rates exceeding 7 percent. It is levied on services as well as goods. This creates a situation in which taxes are often charged on taxes, a problem called “tax pyramiding.”

Lastly, while he is not outwardly hostile to school choice, Richardson has done nothing (with the exception of spend more money) to expand school choice initiatives.

Richardson’s outlook may be somewhat more pro–limited government than those of his fellow Democrats, but he should not be confused with a genuine fiscal conservative.
Paul J. Gessing
President, Rio Grande Foundation
Albuquerque, NM