Homans replaces Goodwin at Tax and Revenue

Former Economic Development Secretary and Spaceport Authority Director Rick Homans returned to state government today when Gov. Bill Richardson appointed him to lead the Taxation and Revenue Department.

The move comes a day after Jan Goodwin, the previous secretary of the department, was named executive director of the New Mexico Educational Retirement Board.

“I want to welcome Rick Homans back to state government, where I will count on his expertise at the Taxation and Revenue Department,” Richardson said in a news release. “Jan Goodwin did a great job of making the Taxation and Revenue Department more efficient and responsive to taxpayers, and I look forward to continuing that progress under Rick Homans’ leadership.”

Homans was economic development secretary from 2003 to 2007. His primary focus became Spaceport America, and he left the secretary position in May to run the spaceport.

But two months later he stepped down to take a job with a Malaysian company that planned to build a rubber recycling plant in Gallup. At the time, Homans said it was “clearly an opportunity I could not pass up.”

Plans for the rubber recycling plant soon fizzled out.

Goodwin had served as the Taxation and Revenue Department’s secretary since 2003. Richardson credited her with streamlining the department, helping him design tax cuts and collecting hundreds of millions of dollars in unpaid taxes.