'Tortilla tax' spurs capitol protest

SANTA FE (KRQE) - There weren't a lot of people, but there were thousands of tortillas as the Roman Catholic Church and advocates for the poor protested a Senate proposal to restore the sales tax on some foods to help balance the state budget.

The change to the food tax passed the Senate Finance Committee Friday and now moves to the senate floor for a vote in the next day or so.

On Friday organizers brought thousands of flour tortillas to the state capitol to raise the level of concern about this latest plan to help balance the state's $500 million dollar budget deficit.

"I just think that it's wrong that they tax the food that they're going to buy especially because it's flour tortillas, macaroni noodles," volunteer Jamie Tagmig said. "You don't tax those."

Flour tortillas would not be tax-free anymore, but healthier corn and wheat tortillas would still be tax free. The healthier foods would be determined by what is found on the New Mexico Department of Health's list of food purchases allowed under the WIC program. (For a list of those items, click here .)

The WIC program offers women, infants and children living at or below 185 percent of poverty level credit to buy qualifying foods free of charge.

Under this proposal all those qualifying foods would remain tax-free.

"They can still purchase those quite frankly exempt from food tax if they use food stamps," Sen. John Arthur Smith, D-Deming, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, told KRQE News 13. "We look at it as basically closing loopholes and encouraging nutritional diets."

The measure would bring the state an extra $140 million a year.

The Senate's budget-balancing plan is a long way from the plan approved by the House.

The Senate's contains no direct tax increases but carries a 3 percent cut to state government. The House plan has more than $300 million in tax increases and only a 1 percent cut to state government.

The session ends next Thursday so lawmakers have less than a week to come to an agreement or face the likelihood of returning for a special session. The budget being prepared is for the 2011 fiscal year, which begins July 1.