Quotes from Senate Minority Leader Stuart Ingle and Senator Kent Cravens

New Mexico Senate Minority Office
For Immediate Release Tuesday, March 02, 2010 Contact: 505-986-4702

All Senate Republicans Voted Against Bill to Increase Taxes $200 Million and All Republican Efforts to Protect Taxpayers were Shot Down TonightAudio and Video Available on YouTube at:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XAlJvNHhOVQ

For NM Senate Minority Leader Stuart Ingle

And at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kqYj_u8n1_I

For NM Senator Kent Cravens

And at www.newmexicorepublicansenators.com


Santa Fe- All Senate Republicans voted against the bill to increase taxes by $200 million in fiscal year 2011 and all Republican efforts to amend the bill in order to protect taxpayers were shot down tonight.

The warnings and predictions that the temporary tax increases that were paraded out by the governor would never be “temporary” were absolutely correct.

But what was a surprise to Republican Senators who were not included in negotiations that crafted the tax increase bill was that the tax increases didn’t even start out as being temporary as the public was told it would be.

The bill that increases taxes by increasing the gross receipts tax; by increased personal income taxes; and by allowing local government to tax food does not make any of the increases temporary and a Republican effort to end the increases in two years was shot down.

One Republican amendment after Republican amendment to protect taxpayers against the omnibus tax increase bill on the Senate Floor tonight were killed largely on a partisan vote- with Republicans voting to protect taxpayers.

Senate Minority Leader Stuart Ingle who tried to amend the tax bill by putting a sunset clause on it reminded the Senate that the governor said in his budget address in early January that he would only support a “temporary revenue increase.” Senator Ingle quoted Governor Bill Richardson’s speech when Ingle read, “As we look to raise revenue to help us through this crisis, I will only support a temporary revenue increase that- automatically expires in three years or less.”
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Republican State Senator Sander Rue of Albuquerque had a prediction two months that the governor’s temporary tax increase is an oxymoron, a combination of contradictory words.

Senator Rue warned the public to beware and questioned whether the public could really trust its elected officials enough to believe any tax increase in this state could be temporary.

His question was answered tonight. It will be answered again by the governor when he either lives up to budget speech where he said he “will only support a temporary revenue increase that automatically expires in three years or less.”

Note:
Governor Bill Richardson’s quote is available in his Jan. 5, 2010 budget news release on his website and is being faxed with the faxed copy of this news release.