The Roundhouse in Santa Fe (Photo by Heath Haussamen)
New Mexico’s revenue streams have apparently stabilized and are “tiptoeing toward recovery,” the Albuquerque Journal is reporting.
From the Journal:
“However, if current projections hold true, it will take at least three more years before the amount of money flowing into state coffers returns to 2008 levels – the high-water mark – when New Mexico took in more than $6 billion in taxes, royalty payments and interest earnings. And even that figure isn’t adjusted for inflation, meaning $6 billion in 2015 won’t go as far as it did in 2008.
“In the meantime, slow but steady could mean more hard choices for lawmakers on how to pay for growth in public schools and Medicaid, in addition to other state programs and agencies.”
The good news:
“Tracking of incoming tax revenues done by the Legislative Finance Committee shows increases in all broad-based taxes – including personal and corporate income taxes and gross receipts – from one year ago.
“In all, recurring revenues are up by more than 6 percent, or about $170 million, from the first seven months of this fiscal year compared with the same period a year earlier, according to this month’s LFC report.
“In addition, internal monitoring by the state’s Department of Finance and Administration shows the state running a slight surplus for both the current fiscal year, which ends in June, and the coming year.”
Read the full article here.