A bill that would have added gross receipts tax to a wide variety of food was tabled by a unanimous vote of the House Business and Industry Committee Wednesday afternoon. There were no questions for the sponsor and no discussion among the committee members, indicating the measure is likely dead for good.

Sponsored by Sen. Bernadette Sanchez, SB 10 would have exempted foods covered by the state’s nutritional program for women, infants, and children, plus meats, poultry and seafood, raising a projected $138 million.  It was passed in the Senate after an extensive floor debate last Saturday night and added as an amendment to the House budget bill after the tax measures passed by the House were dropped.

Speaking in support of the bill in the House Corporations Committee was a representative of the Albuquerque Chamber of Commerce, who said it was a good compromise bill that allowed nutritional foods to continue to be tax exempt while allowing the state to balance the budget.

Otherwise, there was an large group of opponents, including a number of religious advocacy groups, individuals, and business associations.

“New Mexico has a lot of food deserts where there’s a long distance for people to go to get good fresh food,” said Ruth Hoffman of Lutheran Advocacy Ministry, New Mexico. “There are parts of the state where some people have to travel up to 60 miles to get to something like a 7-Eleven.”

Hoffman then said she thought the revenue-raising bills passed by the House were better.

“I struggled long and hard to be able to support the half cent increase in the gross receipts tax that was adopted by the House because it’s a regressive tax,” she said, “but it phases out and it was balanced out with the surtax on high income earners [which was also passed by the House]. But this bill [the food tax] means you’re trying to balance the state’s budget on low income people.”