{"id":340,"date":"2006-07-05T10:46:00","date_gmt":"2006-07-05T16:46:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/2006\/07\/reporter-critiques-richardsons-tax-cutting-claim\/"},"modified":"2006-07-05T10:46:00","modified_gmt":"2006-07-05T16:46:00","slug":"reporter-critiques-richardsons-tax-cutting-claim","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2006\/07\/reporter-critiques-richardsons-tax-cutting-claim\/","title":{"rendered":"Reporter critiques Richardson’s tax-cutting claim"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>As part of an ongoing series examining campaign commercials, Steve Terrell of the Santa Fe New Mexican has debunked the efforts of Gov. Bill Richardson\u2019s campaign to convince voters that he\u2019s a tax cutter. <\/p>\n

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

The article<\/a> in today\u2019s edition of the newspaper notes that, days after the primary election, Richardson<\/st1:place><\/st1:city>\u2019s commercial\u2019s began. The first commercial<\/a> touts the governor\u2019s self-declared ability to know \u201cwhen to say yes, but also when to say no.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

\u201cThat\u2019s why we got rid of taxes on food and medical services. We cut the capital-gains tax and cut income taxes for every New Mexican. At the same time, we audited every government agency, cut the waste and saved millions, and added to the rainy-day fund.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

\u201cSome people said we couldn\u2019t get rid of those taxes. But I think we\u2019re getting along just fine without them,\u201d Richardson<\/st1:city><\/st1:place> says on the commercial.<\/p>\n

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

Notice that he didn\u2019t tell you during the commercial how the state paid for the tax cuts. He seems to imply that cutting government waste allowed the cuts.<\/p>\n

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

Terrell tells the real story. The same bill that eliminated the gross-receipts tax on food and medical services increased the tax rate on other goods and services within municipalities.<\/p>\n

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

The capital-gains tax was reduced by 50 percent, as were income taxes.<\/p>\n

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

But many other fees and taxes have increased, including motor-vehicle registration, hunting and fishing licenses, cigarette taxes, truck fees and tire-recycling fees, Terrell reminds us.<\/p>\n

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

Overall, it\u2019s hard to say whether we\u2019re paying more or less in taxes and fees. When I inquired of the Richardson<\/st1:city><\/st1:place> administration about a year ago, even it couldn\u2019t give me an answer.<\/p>\n

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

As for the auditing: Terrell notes that not all of the audit team\u2019s suggestions were implemented, but many were. When the governor claims to have cut government waste, I\u2019d also note the allegedly illegal hirings he has made without legislative approval.<\/p>\n

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

Last, as Terrell noted, the rainy-day fund has increased during Richardson<\/st1:place><\/st1:city>\u2019s tenure. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As part of an ongoing series examining campaign commercials, Steve Terrell of the Santa Fe New Mexican has debunked the efforts of Gov. Bill Richardson\u2019s campaign to convince voters that he\u2019s a tax cutter. The article in today\u2019s edition of the newspaper notes that, days after the primary election, Richardson\u2019s commercial\u2019s began. The first commercial […]<\/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-340","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/340","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=340"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/340\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=340"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=340"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=340"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}