I am writing today to announce the closure of the New Mexico Independent. After three and a half years of operation in New Mexico, the board of the American Independent News Network, has decided to shift publication of its news…
While environmental activists played their part yesterday during demonstrations at the capitol building, going so far as to dress up as solar panels and to sing the tune of “You Are My Sunshine,” their counterparts, the anti-cap-and-trade contingency who has…
Roughly one quarter of University of New Mexico students are unimpressed with the state’s flagship public school, according to a survey that questioned college students about their higher education experiences.
Steve Terrell has an interesting look at one proposal to help close the budget gap in New Mexico — raising the tax on alcohol. The tax, known a “sin tax,” is one of a number of revenue-enhancing plans that will be considered in January.
State Rep. Brian Egolf, D-Santa Fe, is proposing a “dime a drink” proposal that would, you guessed it, add a dime per drink to your nightly tab at the bar.
However, it won’t be a slam dunk for Egolf’s proposal to work. Terrell writes:
Mahr pointed out that New Mexico has some of the highest excise taxes in the country.
Both the excise tax on beer (41 cents per gallon) and wine ($1.70 per gallon for most wines) are among the top 10 highest such state taxes, according to a study published this year by The Tax Foundation, a Washington, D.C.-based nonpartisan tax-research group. The state excise tax on distilled spirits ($6.06 per gallon) is the 17th highest such levy in the nation.
With Governor Bill Richardson’s declaration that tax increases are “inevitable,” so-called sin-taxes are expected to be the most likely to pass.
Egolf cited a poll commissioned by New Mexico Education Partners from Research and Polling, Inc. that showed that increases in “sin taxes” were supported by a majority of New Mexicans.
