AFT Political Action Committee Pushing Back on Education Cuts
AFT New Mexico Political Action Committee (COPE)
530 Jefferson St. NE ABQ, NM 87108
http://nm.aft.org 505-266-6638
RELEASE: July 11, 2009
Contact: Tim Crone, VP AFT New Mexico Political Action Committee (COPE)
Phones: (mobile) 927-5284, (home) 505-753-3570, (work) 505-747-2211
Conservative lawmakers exempt corporations, the wealthiest New Mexicans and state legislators from the pain of this economic recession
ABQ - AFT New Mexico's political action committee (COPE) held a press conference July 11 to point out that conservative lawmakers didn't just exempt themselves from sharing in the pain of New Mexico's economic recession, as reported in the ABQ Journal. Read article at this link: http://www.abqjournal.com/upfront/11233834upfront07-11-09.htm .
Conservative lawmakers also exempted corporations and the wealthiest New Mexicans from sharing in the pain of the economic recession by allowing them to escape from paying their fair share of taxes at great cost to students, schools and public employees.
New Mexico's public schools and state government are paid for with state income taxes, sales taxes and gross receipts taxes.
During the 2009 State Legislature, conservative lawmakers such as Sen. John A. Smith of Deming, Sen. Tim Jennings of Roswell and Rep. Kiki Saavedra of ABQ, told the public that everyone would share the pain of the economic recession. But, 'everyone' does not include corporations, the rich or state legislators.
"Conservative lawmakers could have shared the pain of this recession with everyone by closing tax loopholes for corporations and repealing tax cuts for the rich. But, they didn't," said Tim Crone, AFT New Mexico Vice President.
"For example, corporations which do business in New Mexico are allowed by conservative lawmakers to report their profits in states which don't have corporate taxes, such as Delaware. This costs New Mexico's public schools and state government $70-$80 million a year in lost revenues," stated Crone.
"Conservative lawmakers also exempt corporate capital gains from being taxed at their full rate. Instead, capital gains are taxed at half rate. This costs New Mexico's schools and state government $50 million a year in lost revenues," said Crone.
"Conservative lawmakers also exempt the income of the top 10 percent of wealthiest people by cutting personal income tax rates for the rich," Crone commented.
"The wealthiest top 10 percent of New Mexicans used to pay a personal income state tax rate of 8.2 percent. In 2003, conservative lawmakers began reducing that rate to what it is today, 4.9 percent. This costs New Mexico's schools and state government $500 million a year in lost revenues, said Crone.
Crone stated, "Public employees and education employees are sharing the pain of this recession by paying higher utility prices, higher food prices, higher gasoline prices and higher prices for everything. Now, we're suffering more pain because conservative lawmakers passed HB 854 which cuts our paychecks by 1.5 percent."
Crone concluded, "We're fighting back. We're using our constitutional right to petition conservative lawmakers. We demand that they close corporate tax loopholes, repeal tax cuts for the rich, repeal 854, restore budget cuts and use President Obama’s economic recovery stimulus to save jobs and create new jobs in New Mexico."
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