{"id":12668,"date":"2010-02-07T10:53:26","date_gmt":"2010-02-07T17:53:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/?p=12668"},"modified":"2010-02-07T22:49:23","modified_gmt":"2010-02-08T05:49:23","slug":"denish-opposes-%e2%80%98harmful%e2%80%99-grt-increase","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2010\/02\/denish-opposes-%e2%80%98harmful%e2%80%99-grt-increase\/","title":{"rendered":"Denish opposes \u2018harmful\u2019 GRT increase"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

Lt. Gov. Diane Denish (Photo by Heath Haussamen)<\/p><\/div>\n

Lujan calls lieutenant governor\u2019s opposition \u201cunexpected and unfortunate\u201d<\/h4>\n

After the House narrowly approved a temporary, half-cent hike<\/a> in the state\u2019s gross receipts tax on Friday, Lt. Gov. Diane Denish<\/a> said she\u2019ll vote against the \u201charmful tax\u201d in the event of a tie vote in the Senate.<\/p>\n

\u201cDuring these tough economic times, the last thing New Mexico families need is a tax increase on all of their purchases, and I won\u2019t support it,\u201d Denish said in a news release. \u201cInstead of trying to balance the budget on the backs of New Mexico\u2019s most vulnerable families, legislators need to get serious about reforming state government.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIf a tie-breaking vote is needed in the Senate, I will swiftly vote against this unfair tax on everyday New Mexicans,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Denish didn\u2019t provide an alternative to the tax hike in her news release. House Speaker Ben Lujan<\/a>, the sponsor of the legislation, was quick to complain about her stating opposition after the fact rather than providing alternatives during the House debate.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe House has worked hard to send to the Senate a budget plan with revenue enhancements to support a responsible fiscal budget that minimizes additional cuts to education, health and essential services,\u201d Lujan said in his own news release. \u201cIt is unfortunate that the lieutenant governor opposes the courageous action taken by the House with support from education, health and labor advocates.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

House Speaker Ben Lujan during Friday's debate on the bill. (Photo by Heath Haussamen)<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cIt would have been helpful during our discourse if she would have shared her ideas on how to keep education whole and provide the necessary resources to match federal dollars for Medicaid,\u201d Lujan said.<\/p>\n

The speaker called the opposition from Denish, his party\u2019s candidate for governor, \u201cunexpected and unfortunate.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNone of us take pleasure in imposing additional taxes, but the reality is that there are glaring needs we must address, and the majority felt this was unfortunately one of the few choices we had without imposing additional cuts,\u201d Lujan said. \u201cAs to (Denish\u2019s) vote in the event of a tie, her comment is not only premature, but totally unnecessary.\u201d<\/p>\n

The contentious tax proposal passed the House on a vote of 34-32 on Friday, but only after a lot of drama<\/a> that included two Democratic members who were excused from the debate briefly appearing after a call of the House was issued and then vanishing again \u2013 only to return yet again after the final vote was taken.<\/p>\n

In addition, two Republican members missed deliberations on the bill. Had they been present and voted against the bill, it would have died on a tie vote.<\/p>\n

Update, 9 p.m.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Denish spokesman James Hallinan released this follow-up statement:<\/p>\n

\u201cLt. Gov. Denish has shared her ideas on how we can reform government to save millions \u2013 and she believes cost-cutting reforms must come before considering any tax increases on New Mexico\u2019s middle-class, working families like this gross-receipts tax,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

I assume the ideas Hallinan is referring to are these proposals<\/a> Denish made to cut some fat out of government. I asked in an e-mail to Hallinan what else Denish is proposing to balance the budget, since the ideas she\u2019s laid out don\u2019t appear to go far enough. I\u2019ll let you know if I get an answer.<\/p>\n

Update, 9:40 p.m.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Here\u2019s Hallinan\u2019s response:<\/p>\n

\u201cThe lieutenant governor has been clear from day one that before any tax increases are considered, legislators must do everything possible to cut waste and make government more efficient – such as ending double-dipping, cutting political appointees, downsizing the state\u2019s car fleet, sweeping non-reverting cash balances and reforming the capital outlay process. When you consider that many of these cost-saving reform measures haven\u2019t even been debated, it\u2019s simply unfair to ask middle-class New Mexicans to pay more taxes.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf legislators make every cost-saving reform possible and they determine that revenue increases are still needed, those increases should be targeted – like eliminating corporate loopholes – not across-the-board tax hikes that hurt middle-class New Mexico families. But right now the focus should remain on how government can do more with less and be more cost-efficient.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

UPDATED: After the House narrowly approved a temporary, half-cent hike in the state\u2019s gross receipts tax on Friday, Lt. Gov. Diane Denish said she\u2019ll vote against the \u201charmful tax\u201d in the event of a tie vote in the Senate. The bill\u2019s sponsor, House Speaker Ben Lujan, isn\u2019t too happy about that.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,1],"tags":[118,107],"class_list":["post-12668","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news-and-analysis","category-uncategorized","tag-economy","tag-roundhouse"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12668","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=12668"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12668\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12668"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12668"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12668"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}