NEW MEXICO (KRQE) – With just days left in the legislative session, lawmakers are in the final stretch to get bills to the governor’s desk. A major tax reform bill just passed the House Floor Sunday, with major changes.
The cash rebates taxpayers could be getting from House Bill 547 were going to be a lot less than the governor wanted, but one of the tweaks to the bill over the weekend is increasing that amount:
“We initially had the number at $300 per single filer, $600 for married filed jointly and so the changes that were made yesterday on the house floor in the house was that we changed it to $500 to single filer, and $1,000 to married filers as well,” said Representative Derrick Lente (D-Sandoval), chairman of the House Taxation and Revenue Committee and sponsor of this bill.
The omnibus bill took many tax proposals and condensed them into one nearly 70-page piece of legislation. There were other tax increases dropped off of this bill as well. Representative Lente said the public made it known they wanted to get their hardworking taxpayer money back; and in a year with a $3.6 billion surplus, Lente says they agreed 100%.
“In proposing our initial numbers of $300 to $600, we believe that meeting somewhere in the middle and compromising to the $500 and $1000 is somewhere where she [the governor] would want to be,” Lente says.
We asked the Governor’s office whether this new amount was palatable to the governor, given that she spoke about $750 and $1,500 rebates in the State of the State address. A spokesperson for the Governor relayed the following: “The governor was clear with the Legislature that New Mexico families deserve more than $300, as inflation continues to affect Americans nationwide. We are supportive of the newly negotiated amount.”
Additionally, an amendment was made to take out the tax increase on the top wage earners in the state. With that increase taken out, calculations now show every tax bracket in New Mexico will see a slight decrease in their rate.
The bill is scheduled for the Senate Tax Committee next. Lente says he is confident this bill will make it to the governor’s desk before the close of the session.
