{"id":2557,"date":"2007-11-26T13:45:00","date_gmt":"2007-11-26T19:45:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/2007\/11\/lawmaker-seeks-ag-opinion-on-spaceport-tax-delay\/"},"modified":"2007-11-26T13:45:00","modified_gmt":"2007-11-26T19:45:00","slug":"lawmaker-seeks-ag-opinion-on-spaceport-tax-delay","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2007\/11\/lawmaker-seeks-ag-opinion-on-spaceport-tax-delay\/","title":{"rendered":"Lawmaker seeks AG opinion on spaceport tax delay"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>A state representative has asked the attorney general to weigh in on whether Do\u00f1a Ana County<\/a> can delay collection of a 1\/4 percent gross receipts tax to help fund construction of Spaceport America<\/a>. <\/p>\n

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

The county commission has voted to delay collection, currently scheduled to start on Jan. 1, until at least July because voters in Sierra and Otero counties haven\u2019t yet decided whether to implement the tax. The move is backed by the New Mexico Spaceport Authority<\/a>, but the state\u2019s Taxation and Revenue Department says the county\u2019s vote to delay the tax isn\u2019t valid because it can only be delayed by amending or repealing the ordinance that allowed the April tax election. There\u2019s not time to do that before the tax takes effect.<\/p>\n

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

\"\"<\/a>Now, as reported by the Las Cruces Sun-News<\/a>, state Rep. Joni Gutierrez<\/a>, D-Mesilla, has written a letter<\/a> to the attorney general seeking a legal opinion on whether the county can delay collection of the tax.<\/p>\n

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

\u201cI felt like too many of my constituents were concerned about what was going on,\u201d Gutierrez told the Sun-News about her decision to seek the AG opinion.<\/p>\n

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

Approval from another county is critical because no tax money can be spent, under state law, until at least two governments approve an increase and form a tax district. Commissioners in Do\u00f1a<\/st1:placename> Ana<\/st1:placename> County<\/st1:placename><\/st1:place> aren\u2019t comfortable collecting a tax they don\u2019t know for certain will be used, at least for the purpose for which it was approved. Commissioners in Sierra and Otero counties say they intend to hold elections on whether to approve the tax, but neither county has set a date.<\/p>\n

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

Do\u00f1a<\/st1:placename> Ana<\/st1:placename> County<\/st1:placename><\/st1:place> commissioners have met in closed session to discuss the possibility of a lawsuit to try to delay the tax. Gutierrez asked for speed from the AG, since collection of the tax is currently scheduled to begin in less than five weeks.<\/p>\n

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

The move is politically wise for Gutierrez. She\u2019s a champion of the spaceport and supported the tax, but rural leaders, some from her district, organized a strong campaign against the tax in April, and they\u2019ve convinced Mesilla Mayor Pro Tem Jesus Caro<\/a> to run against her next year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A state representative has asked the attorney general to weigh in on whether Do\u00f1a Ana County can delay collection of a 1\/4 percent gross receipts tax to help fund construction of Spaceport America. The county commission has voted to delay collection, currently scheduled to start on Jan. 1, until at least July because voters in […]<\/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-2557","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2557","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=2557"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2557\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2557"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2557"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2557"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}