{"id":125435,"date":"2016-02-08T19:12:51","date_gmt":"2016-02-09T02:12:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/?p=125435"},"modified":"2016-02-08T19:12:51","modified_gmt":"2016-02-09T02:12:51","slug":"bill-would-ok-using-lodgers-tax-to-subsidize-commercial-airlines","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2016\/02\/bill-would-ok-using-lodgers-tax-to-subsidize-commercial-airlines\/","title":{"rendered":"Bill would OK using lodgers tax to subsidize commercial airlines"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_56542\"  class=\"wp-caption module image alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 771px;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-56542\" src=\"http:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/Kids-at-Roundhouse-771x504.jpg\" alt=\"A statue outside the Roundhouse in Santa Fe.\" width=\"771\" height=\"504\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/Kids-at-Roundhouse-771x504.jpg 771w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/Kids-at-Roundhouse-336x220.jpg 336w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/Kids-at-Roundhouse-768x502.jpg 768w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/Kids-at-Roundhouse-1170x764.jpg 1170w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/Kids-at-Roundhouse.jpg 1500w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 771px) 100vw, 771px\" \/><\/a><p class=\"wp-media-credit\">Heath Haussamen \/ NMPolitics.net<\/p><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Roswell and neighboring communities are pushing for the bill because they say they are negotiating with a major U.S. airline. The carrier wants a guarantee on revenue to fly from Roswell&#8217;s airport, leading to the idea of subsidizing the airline with the lodgers&#8217; tax.<\/p><\/div>\n<p>A bill that would let cities and counties use revenue from their lodgers&#8217; tax to subsidize commercial airlines moved forward <span class=\"aBn\" data-term=\"goog_578650177\"><span class=\"aQJ\">Monday<\/span><\/span>.<\/p>\n<p>The House Government, Elections and Indian Affairs Committee endorsed the proposal 8-0, though one member questioned using taxpayers&#8217; money to compensate a private airline for its &#8220;empty seats.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Roswell and neighboring communities are pushing for <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nmlegis.gov\/lcs\/legislation.aspx?chamber=H&amp;legtype=B&amp;legno=192&amp;year=16\" target=\"_blank\">the bill<\/a> because they say they are negotiating with a major U.S. airline. The carrier wants a guarantee on revenue to fly from Roswell&#8217;s airport, leading to the idea of subsidizing the airline with the lodgers&#8217; tax.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"module align-left half type-aside\">\n<h3>About this article<\/h3>\n<p>This article comes from <a href=\"http:\/\/www.santafenewmexican.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">The Santa Fe New Mexican<\/a>. NMPolitics.net is paying for the rights to publish articles about the 2016 legislative session from the newspaper. Help us cover the cost by\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2015\/10\/nmpolitics-net-cant-exist-without-your-financial-support\/\" target=\"_blank\">making a donation to NMPolitics.net<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/aside>\n<p>Under current law, the lodgers&#8217; tax can be used for marketing and to provide structure and transportation to increase the tourist trade. The legislative staff, in <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nmlegis.gov\/Sessions\/16%20Regular\/firs\/HB0192.PDF\" target=\"_blank\">its analysis<\/a> of the bill, said it&#8217;s not clear whether subsidizing an airline would be an appropriate use of the lodgers&#8217; tax.<\/p>\n<p>That led state Reps. Candy Spence Ezzell and Bob Wooley, both Republicans from Roswell, to sponsor a specific proposal for airline subsidies.<\/p>\n<p>Rep. Debbie Rodella, D-Espa\u00f1ola, said the bill, though drafted with the idea of helping Roswell, could be used by other cities with small airports. Farmington, for instance, might profit from the idea, she said.<\/p>\n<p>Rep. Antonio &#8220;Moe&#8221; Maestas, D-Albuquerque, called the bill &#8220;a fantastic idea.&#8221; New Mexico spends too much time debating taxes instead of tailoring programs to improve the economy, he said.<\/p>\n<p>Not every member of the committee was as enthusiastic about the bill. Rep. Eliseo Alcon, D-Milan, questioned the propriety of using taxpayers&#8217; money to subsidize a private business. &#8220;We&#8217;re paying for empty seats on an airplane,&#8221; Alcon said.<!--more--><\/p>\n<p>Rep. Zach Cook, R-Ruidoso, defended the bill after Alcon&#8217;s criticism. Cook said the money that would go to airlines is generated by tourists staying in hotels.<\/p>\n<p>Alcon had a quick response. &#8220;I don&#8217;t have anything against the idea. I&#8217;m just worried it&#8217;s going to end up somewhere, like a courtroom.&#8221; Nonetheless, Alcon voted for the bill.<\/p>\n<p>Roswell has generated tourism with a UFO festival, an idea that sprang from the crash of an Air Force balloon in 1947. The Roswell incident led to fanciful reports of a craft carrying aliens from outer space. Before calling for the vote on the subsidy bill, the committee chairman, Rep. Jim Smith, R-Sandia Park, made reference to Roswell&#8217;s history. &#8220;I didn&#8217;t know anybody flying into Roswell needed airplanes,&#8221; Smith said.<\/p>\n<p>The bill goes next to the House Ways and Means Committee.<\/p>\n<p><em>Contact Milan Simonich at (505) 986-3080 or <a href=\"mailto:msimonich@sfnewmexican.com\">msimonich@sfnewmexican.com<\/a>. Follow his Ringside Seat column at <a href=\"http:\/\/santafenewmexican.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer\">santafenewmexican.com<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Roswell and neighboring communities are pushing for the bill because they say they are negotiating with a major U.S. airline.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":56542,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[3250,107,271],"class_list":["post-125435","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-and-analysis","tag-2016-legislative-session","tag-roundhouse","tag-taxes"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/125435","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=125435"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/125435\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/56542"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=125435"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=125435"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=125435"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}