April
5, 2001
SENATE EXECUTIVE MESSAGE NO. 44
The Honorable Richard Romero and
Members of the Senate
Executive-Legislative Building
Santa Fe, New Mexico 87503
Honorable President and Members of the Senate:
I have this day VETOED and am returning SENATE
FINANCE COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR SENATE FINANCE COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR
SENATE BILL 124, and SENATE BILLS 213,
343 & 43, as amended, enacted by the Forty-Fifth Legislature, First
Session, 2001.
This
bill is the response to my request for a $75,000,000 income tax reduction.
After the legislative session began, I agreed in a spirit of compromise to
phase in the cut over two years. I
expected in return a tax cut that covered everyone, including the middle class─the
majority of New Mexico income taxpayers. The proposal sent to me provides less
than half of the permanent tax relief asked for. Although it does pull the top
rate down from 8.2 percent to 7.7 percent as I asked, it also lowers the dollar
amount at which the highest level kicks in. Middle class taxpayers receive no
permanent benefit.
The
bill grants needed gross receipts tax relief to select taxpayers. Easing the
pyramiding built into the gross receipts tax system is something New Mexico
must continue to work on. Such improvements, however, should have been in
addition to, not in place of, a permanent lowering of income tax rates for
everyone who pays income tax.
It
is my hope that, after the legislators have had some time to recover from the
intense pressures of the session, we will be able to come up with a tax break
that New Mexicans deserve.
Teachers,
professors, state workers, judges, everyone in state government received a
raise this session. How about a raise
for the rest of New Mexico by lowering all citizens’ income taxes?
Sincerely,
Gary E. Johnson
Governor
RECEIVED FROM THE OFFICE OF THE
GOVERNOR:
Time: _____________________
By:_____________________________
Secretary of State
Date ______________________
Time:______________________
Date_______________________
By:_____________________________
Chief Clerk of the Senate
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