I’ll show vision and vote to approve spaceport tax

This is the fifth in a series of guest columns debating whether Doña Ana County voters should approve a 1/4 percent gross-receipts tax increase to help fund Spaceport America. Public officials and other readers are invited to participate in this debate. To submit a guest column for publication, e-mail me at heath@haussamen.com. Baseless personal attacks will not be published.

© 2007 by Michael Swickard, Ph.D.

“I have vision, and the rest of the world wears bifocals.” – Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid

The spaceport tax vote is more one of style than substance. In fact, the substance of the argument is entirely lacking. Neither side has any real idea what will happen with the development of the spaceport since it has never been done. Both sides agree that we do not have enough information, nor can we, unless we build the spaceport. There are no facts to argue.

Further, the problem is exactly that it is something that has never been done before. If we were trying to decide to provide publicly financed infrastructure for a commercial business such as a dairy, people would have no problem understanding the substance questions.

Imagine if the voters of El Paso were asked 100 years ago to build their current airport. They would certainly question all of the parking, the baggage area, and the need for a paved runway 12,020 feet in length and 150 feet wide. Who is going to use it? Only rich people will be flying, so the wealthy should pay all the cost of the El Paso International Airport. Years ago, they would not have seen that, if you build it, the airlines will come. They would have asked, what airlines?

Yet, without the investment, no airline would have come. The runways had to be built first or there would never have been an airport. Imagine El Paso today without an airport.

With the spaceport we have no substantive facts so we have to look at the style questions. There are four:

• First, is it the legitimate role of government to provide the infrastructure for a commercial venture?

• Second, is it reasonable to assume the spaceport can thrive in Southern New Mexico?

• Third, is the manner of the spaceport tax appropriate?

• Fourth – this is where almost all the arguments are – if the spaceport does thrive, is that ultimately a negative for the community or will we be much better off?

The legitimate-role-of-government questions turn on the concept of governments doing what commercial ventures cannot. Only government could have built the interstate highway system. Is it legitimate for government to provide the runways, sewer, power and connecting roads? Yes; in fact, people seem to prefer government ownership of the infrastructure connected with airports.

Second, there is the style question of the reasonableness of believing that a spaceport can thrive. With no real facts, the issue is one of transference from other commercial ventures. When airports have been built, they are usually commercially successful. Is that a guarantee? No.

The manner of the spaceport tax bothers some. When will we stop raising taxes? There is the question of the spread of the burden, the long-term financial risks, etc. But I do not think this is really what animates most people.

Most of the arguments are about this point: If the spaceport is successful, will it end up being good or bad for the community? People do not embrace or object to the spaceport as much as they make value statements about the connective issues. Neither side is so much in opposition or favor of the spaceport as they are about the economic development of Southern New Mexico.

Some people think we already have too darn many people; they do not want to do anything to induce any more people to move to our little slice of heaven. Other people say the number one export of Southern New Mexico is our young people. They will do anything to keep the kids home since there is no greater misery than your little darling getting a job right out of college in Boston. You spend the rest of your life on airplanes going to see the grandkids.

The controversy does not involve space travel at all. It is about the community. Should it grow or not? Should the community move toward more college-required jobs or should it spend the majority of its attention and money palliatively on poor people?

I have talked with people who do not want increased wealth in our community since with more wealth people would no longer need as much government intervention. Other people believe that fat cats are always living on the backs of poor people and we do not need any more wealthy fat cats in our community.

Me, I am voting for the spaceport tax as a vote of style. I agree with Butch Cassidy: It seems some people have vision when the rest of the world wears bifocals. Twenty years from now I believe we will be amazed that we even considered not building the infrastructure.

Swickard is an occasional columnist for Heath Haussamen on New Mexico Politics. The Morning Show with Michael Swickard is on from 6 a.m. to 10 a.m. Monday through Friday on KSNM-AM 570 in Las Cruces. Michael’s e-mail address is michael@swickard.com.