Support for Spending Cuts

Santa Fe---State Senate Minority Whip Bill Payne said it is critical that New Mexico re-examine its huge size of state government, especially compared to other states.
“If New Mexico state government were the average size, we could save at least $200 million dollars a year,” Senator Payne said. “But we are not, we are huge. New Mexico ranks 3rd highest in the nation of public employees per capita and has 40% more public employees per capita than the national average when state and local employees, including those in education, are considered.”

At the capitol today, Senator Payne said it is time to change the role of state government in people’s lives, it is not time to raise government just to support an oversize bureaucracy. “New Mexicans can’t and shouldn’t support such a huge state government any longer,” Senator Payne said. “New Mexicans and business just can’t afford it.”

In the past year, New Mexico has experienced a 21% decline in personal income tax collections, a 54% decline in corporate income tax collections, and a 20% decline in energy related revenues. Compounding those dismal statistics, the state has regulated the oil and gas industry to death, even as huge resources are being developed outside the state. Production in New Mexico is way down while surrounding states have increased production. The natural gas industry, which has historically funded a significant portion of state government, will likely never return to a level of production that will support state government spending at levels of the recent past.

“A good argument can be made that the public employee voting block is the largest in the state and consistently supports taxes on businesses and private employers so government jobs with generous salaries and benefits can mushroom,” Senator Payne said. “These factors have created a death spiral in the ability of the tax paying private sector to pay for ever increasing government growth.”

Senator Payne said raising taxes is not the answer.

“It is vital we resist the predictable call to raise taxes on our private sector in these difficult times,” Senator Payne said. “The legislature must capitalize on the opportunity to reexamine the scope of services we should support, not further damage private sector recovery and job creation through punitive tax measures.”