Stateline.org

New Mexico isn’t a lone actor in its bid to tax cigarettes at a greater rate. As you may recall, the Legislature passed a 75-cent hike to the state’s 91-cent cigarette tax last week to help address next year’s projected budgetary shortfall.
Last year 16 states raised their cigarette taxes, and another four are looking at [...]

A majority of states–New Mexico included–are tapping into rainy-day funds to get through this year, reports Stateline.org.
Last week the New Mexico Legislature failed to craft a budget for next year because of disagreements between legislative leaders. But the Legislature did approve what Democratic legislative leaders called an “essential bill” to shore up this year’s budget.

Here’s something New Mexico state officials can back up with experience: predicting revenues in this recession are incredibly difficult, says Stateline.org. Indiana hasn’t produced an accurate monthly tax revenue estimate in over a year. The state has never been so wrong, says an Indiana University professor who has worked on the state’s tax estimates for [...]

New Mexico relies most heavily on the state gross receipts tax for its revenue — to the tune of 36.1 percent, according to a new report. By comparison, the state income tax comes in third as a revenue generator, behind licenses and other taxes, producing just 15.8 percent of the revenue to pay for state [...]

Earlier this year New Mexico state lawmakers trimmed what the state spends on corrections, as well as a lot of other places in the budget, as a result of the sluggish economy.