{"id":461638,"date":"2017-11-15T09:55:01","date_gmt":"2017-11-15T16:55:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/?p=461638"},"modified":"2017-11-15T09:56:53","modified_gmt":"2017-11-15T16:56:53","slug":"nm-isnt-getting-amazon-but-we-can-become-more-attractive-for-new-businesses","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2017\/11\/nm-isnt-getting-amazon-but-we-can-become-more-attractive-for-new-businesses\/","title":{"rendered":"NM isn\u2019t getting Amazon, but we can become more attractive for new businesses"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>COMMENTARY:\u00a0<\/strong>The global ecommerce giant\u2019s search for a second headquarters has the economic development profession in a tizzy. The fact that Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos was born in Albuquerque has further driven hopes up among many New Mexicans that somehow, some way, The Land of Enchantment will be picked.<\/p>\n<p>In fact, three separate proposals (Albuquerque, Borderplex Alliance and Santa Teresa) were sent to the company from New Mexico. Don\u2019t count on New Mexico being chosen or even among the finalists.<\/p>\n<p>This is not a case of being unduly negative. Have a look at Amazon\u2019s own <a href=\"https:\/\/qz.com\/1071832\/amazons-hq2-what-it-wants-for-its-massive-new-north-american-headquarters\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">site selection guidelines:<\/a><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>New Mexico lacks a truly international airport, has no existing buildings of 500,000 square feet and it doesn\u2019t have a city or even a metro area with 1 million people.<\/li>\n<li>Our tax structure is not \u201cbusiness friendly,\u201d particularly our gross receipts tax (more on that later).<\/li>\n<li>In terms of incentives, Amazon wants them (a lot of them). It is an open question whether providing these incentives will be good for New Mexico (or whoever wins Amazon).<\/li>\n<li>When it comes to quality of life, New Mexico\u2019s crime issues will be a big negative.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>It\u2019s pretty clear New Mexico doesn\u2019t fit Amazon\u2019s wish list. Some issues are fixable &#8212; and, to the extent they are, our elected officials and economic development leaders must get to work. A realistic assessment of New Mexico shows that we can do a lot to make our state more attractive as a place for other companies as a potential location or relocation site.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_48942\"  class=\"wp-caption module image alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 270px;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-48942\" src=\"http:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/Gessing-Paul.jpg\" alt=\"Paul Gessing\" width=\"270\" height=\"238\" \/><p class=\"wp-media-credit\">Courtesy photo<\/p><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Paul Gessing<\/p><\/div>\n<p>There isn\u2019t much that can be done about our population or airports, but by taking steps to revitalize our economy there is no reason that New Mexico can\u2019t be a destination for population growth with its great weather and cultural amenities. We have plenty of room and yes, even water, to accommodate economic growth.<\/p>\n<p>Our gross receipts tax (GRT) structure is\u00a0not business friendly. If Amazon (or any business) were to locate here they would be forced to pay taxes on all manner of services and contractors that are not taxed in other states. Reforming the GRT must be a top priority for the Legislature in 2018.<\/p>\n<p>Also, while New Mexico\u2019s income tax is reasonable, Amazon can easily decide to locate in one of the nine zero-income tax states including Texas, Tennessee or Florida (they are already located in zero-income tax Washington).<\/p>\n<p>While the Rio Grande Foundation is a skeptic of incentives, the fact is that New Mexico\u2019s budget is tight and incentives of the kind Amazon is looking for will be expensive. We hope states don\u2019t foolishly rush to throw massive incentives at Amazon, but if they do, it is unlikely New Mexico will be able to compete with larger, more economically-prosperous states.<\/p>\n<p>And then there is the significant crime problem in New Mexico and particularly its largest city, Albuquerque. Crime has always been a significant challenge for New Mexico, but there is no doubt that the high-profile cases will make any business think twice about locating here.<\/p>\n<p>Simply put, resources need to be dedicated to putting dangerous criminals (including those who perpetrate serious property crimes) behind bars. Systems including the judiciary, policing agencies, the education system, and our own family units need to do a better job.<!--more--><\/p>\n<p>From a policy perspective, the low-hanging-fruit to make us a more attractive destination for Amazon or another business would be tax reform. The GRT should be dramatically-overhauled in 2018. Also, while \u201cright to work\u201d may not be a priority for Amazon, it is a priority for other business leaders.\u00a0Some 78 percent of CEOs surveyed earlier this year said they either preferred or would only locate new jobs in \u201cright to work\u201d states.<\/p>\n<p>Although Amazon has not specifically cited \u201cright to work\u201d as a priority, this is not an uncommon practice due to the political controversy such statements generate. There is a strong likelihood Amazon will locate its second headquarters in a \u201cright to work\u201d state. Again, New Mexico could enact such a law immediately.<\/p>\n<p>Clearly, New Mexico does not fit what Amazon says they want. But with a few significant policy reforms and a serious effort to tackle crime, our state could be in the running for numerous other businesses and thousands of jobs. The status quo is not good enough.<\/p>\n<article id=\"post-403053\" class=\"hnews item post-403053 post type-post status-publish format-standard has-post-thumbnail hentry category-commentary category-guest-columns tag-money-in-politics tag-nonprofits tag-santa-fe tag-transparency\">\n<div class=\"entry-content clearfix\">\n<p><em>Paul Gessing is the president of New Mexico\u2019s\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.riograndefoundation.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Rio Grande Foundation<\/a>, an independent, non-partisan, tax-exempt research and educational organization dedicated to promoting prosperity for New Mexico based on principles of limited government, economic freedom and individual responsibility.\u00a0Agree with his opinion? Disagree? We welcome your views. Learn about submitting your own commentary\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/commentary-submissions\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">here<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>With a few significant policy reforms and a serious effort to tackle crime, our state could be in the running for numerous other businesses and thousands of jobs.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":790,"featured_media":48942,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1192,16],"tags":[142,118,107,271],"class_list":["post-461638","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-commentary","category-guest-columns","tag-crime","tag-economy","tag-roundhouse","tag-taxes"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/461638","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\/790"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=461638"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/461638\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/48942"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=461638"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=461638"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=461638"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}