Legislative Update 2.2.10
February 2nd, 2010
There are currently hundreds of bills before our legislature and several contain revenue enhancement language. The revenue enhancement bills will secure jobs for public employees, eliminate potential furloughs, secure state employees benefit package and assure salaries will NOT be reduced for state employees. It is imperative that membership join together in solidarity with a clear message to those who were elected by us in legislature, our Senators and our Representatives. State employees have taken their hit:
1 We have lost five days of pay,
2 We have increased our PERA/ERA contributions by 1.5%,
3 We have lost accrual of both sick leave and annual leave, and
4 We have adjusted our lives to accommodate these changes while maintaining quality services for our customers and the citizens of New Mexico!
WE HAVE DONE OUR SHARE! Now it’s time to take action!
Those bills of particular interest and relevance to CWA membership are:
House Bill 9 sponsored by Representative Edward Sandoval—In short this bill imposes a surtax of 1% for three years on our highest income earners, specifically
those earning over $100,000 annually- married filing separate returns;
those earning $200,000 annually-married filing joint returns; and
those earning $130,000 annually- single tax file.
Senate Bill 122 sponsored by Senator Bernadette M. Sanchez-- This bill imposes a surtax of 1% for three years on our highest income earners, specifically
those earning over $80,000 annually- married filing separate returns;
those earning $160,000 annually-married filing joint returns; and
those earning $100,000 annually- single tax file.
House Bill 62 sponsored by Representative Begaye and Senate Bill 90 sponsored Senator Wirth—This bill is also known as the “Combined Reporting Bill.”
This bill requires unitary corporations to file combined returns for the corporate income tax. Manufacturing corporations (i.e. Intel) would be exempted from the requirement to file on a combined basis. The option for corporations to file as a federal consolidated basis would be repealed. A new distribution would be made to the public school fund equal to 25 percent of corporate income tax receipts beginning with tax year 2011.
House Bill 119 Sponsored by Speaker of the House Ben Lujan—This bill has two (2) revenue enhancements:
Temporarily increases the Gross Receipts Tax from 5% to the following:
From July 1, 2010 to June 20, 2011- 5 ½ %;
From July 1, 2011 to June 30, 2012- 5 ¼ %;
From July 1, 2012 to June 30, 2013- 5 1/8 %; and
On or after July 1, 2014 5%
Compensating Tax- a tax for the privilege of using tangible property located in New Mexico. The current compensating tax in New Mexico is 5% and the bill temporarily increases the Compensating tax to the following:
From July 1, 2010 to June 20, 2011- 5 ½ %;
From July 1, 2011 to June 30, 2012- 5 3/8 %;
From July 1, 2012 to June 30, 2013- 5 ¼ %; and
On or after July 1, 2014 5%
§ House Bill 120 Sponsored by Speaker of the House Ben Lujan—This bill expands the allowance of withholding amounts by amendment, provides a tax credit, and amends the oil and gas proceeds withholding tax act:
Pass-through entities (PTE’s) would be required to make quarterly withholding tax payments on net income distributed to their non-resident owners. PTE net income is defined as the income reported to an owner by the PTE for federal income tax purposes. Deduction of certain expenses would be allowed in calculating oil and gas proceeds withholding. Trusts and estates that distribute income to beneficiaries would be treated as pass-through entities for withholding purposes. Oil and gas withholding payments would count toward estimated payment requirements. A new minimum threshold for withholding requirements is established of $30 per quarter, corresponding to nearly $2,500 of annual income and equivalent to $10 of withholding per month (the threshold for pension and annuity withholding). The requirement for PTE’s to withhold on net income of nonprofits or federal, state, local or tribal governments would be removed. Employers with more than 50 employees and who do not have a Department of Workforce Solutions’ filing requirement would be required to electronically file an information return with TRD and the Workers’ Compensation Administration. Provisions apply to tax years 2011 and subsequent.
What can you do? Call your elected officials and tell them that you support these bills. Remind them that you are a voting constituent and they represent you as a citizen, but most importantly, thank them for the work they do to represent the people from their communities.
Some key legislators to contact are:
Sen. Eric Griego 986-4862 Rep. Mimi Stewart 986-4840
Sen. Pete Campos 986-4311 Rep. Sheryl W. Stapleton 986-4774
Sen. John Sapien 986-4371 Rep. Eleanor Chavez 986-4464
Sen. Linda Lopez 986-4737 Rep. Debbie Rodella 986-4329
Sen. Tim Keller 986-4260 Rep. Nick Salazar 986-4433
If your legislator is not listed, it does not mean that they do not need to be called, contacted or visited with, all senators and all representatives should be contacted, they need to hear your voice on these bills.
