{"id":1054,"date":"2007-01-03T17:13:00","date_gmt":"2007-01-03T23:13:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/2007\/01\/group-will-promote-approval-of-spaceport-tax\/"},"modified":"2007-01-03T17:13:00","modified_gmt":"2007-01-03T23:13:00","slug":"group-will-promote-approval-of-spaceport-tax","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2007\/01\/group-will-promote-approval-of-spaceport-tax\/","title":{"rendered":"Group will promote approval of spaceport tax"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>A number of local government, community and business leaders have formed a group that will push for voter approval in Do\u00f1a Ana County of a gross receipts tax increase to help fund Spaceport America<\/a>. <\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

The group, called People for Aerospace, launched its Web site today. It can be found at http:\/\/www.peopleforaerospace.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

The group has three co-chairs: Do\u00f1a Ana County Commissioner Bill McCamley; Steinborn, Inc. CEO and partner John Hummer; and Delano Lewis, a former U.S.<\/st1:country-region> ambassador to South Africa<\/st1:country-region><\/st1:place> and retired CEO of National Public Radio.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Though a final, formal vote by the county commission is still required, the commission has set the stage for a public vote on April 3 on whether to increase the gross receipts tax 1\/4 percent in Do\u00f1a<\/st1:placename> Ana<\/st1:placename> County<\/st1:placename><\/st1:place> to help fund the spaceport. That has not been without controversy. Commissioner Oscar Vasquez Butler doesn\u2019t want voters to have the chance to decide whether to raise taxes, and another commissioner and a few other community leaders have expressed reservations about the project.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

With that in mind, People for Aerospace aims to disseminate information and help answer questions about the spaceport, according to a news release from the group.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u201cThere are many questions people have regarding Spaceport America<\/st1:place><\/st1:country-region>,\u201d Hummer said in the release. \u201cThe goal of this Web site is to provide an abundance of information to educate the public on Spaceport America<\/st1:country-region><\/st1:place> and to answer frequently asked questions about the GRT tax.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u201cIt has been our experience that, the more people learn about the spaceport, the more support we have received for the GRT tax because, at the end of the day, Spaceport America, to me, is all about creating a better future for our children and future generations,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Lewis agreed.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u201cI believe strongly that Spaceport America will be the economic engine to create business opportunities and jobs for our community,\u201d he said. \u201cThis is an exciting opportunity for Southern New Mexico<\/st1:place>, our state and our region.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

The well-funded group is backed by many corporations and governments, according to the Web site. McCamley has been giving a presentation on the spaceport to governments and other groups around the county for several months and has received praise from many officials.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

That presentation is one of many features on the Web site. There\u2019s also a list of frequently asked questions, with answers, and a form for people who want to submit questions to the group.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

No group has formed, at this time, to campaign against approval of the proposed tax increase. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A number of local government, community and business leaders have formed a group that will push for voter approval in Do\u00f1a Ana County of a gross receipts tax increase to help fund Spaceport America. The group, called People for Aerospace, launched its Web site today. It can be found at http:\/\/www.peopleforaerospace.com. The group has three […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1054","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1054","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1054"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1054\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1054"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1054"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1054"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}