New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham wants to give back to the residents of the state a portion of the taxes they’re required to pay.
In her a State of the State address, marking the beginning of her second term as Governor, Lujan Grisham has asked members of the state legislature to approve one-time rebates of $750 for each individual taxpayer.
The figure increases to $1,500 for couples filing jointly.
The tax rebate initiative is part of an overall package of $1 billion in economic relief being proposed by the Governor, who noted that such rebates will “help more New Mexicans afford the things they need right now.”
Other parts of that package, said Lujan Grisham, include “cutting our gross receipts tax rate again to help consumers save money; implementing common sense anti-pyramiding measures to make goods and services more affordable; and delivering personal income tax cuts for middle class New Mexicans by making our system more progressive.”
The Governor is also tackling a problem that is challenging the chief executives of all the other 49 states: the current high cost of housing. “I am requesting over $100 million for housing programs,” she said, noting that such funding will go to, among other things, down payment assistance programs as well as investments in the state’s Mortgage Finance Authority.
Such funding can then be matched by money coming out of Washington.
For the state’s builders, Lujan Grisham’s infrastructure proposals can only be good news: she is proposing up to $128 million in funding for water infrastructure improvement projects across the state, as well as a larger $146 million for statewide broadband expansion.
The Governor also said she wants to fund to the tune of $200 million a Rural Health Care Delivery Fund; and see the capital outlay passage of $10 million for a “full-spectrum reproductive health clinic in southern New Mexico.”
An additional $100 million is slated to go to the communities who were impacted by the Hermit’s Peak/Calf Canyon fire earlier last spring, which is regarded as one of the largest and most destructive wildfires in New Mexico history, having devastated some 340,000 acres between April and June.
By Garry Boulard
