Tax increases approved, and opportunity to build new energy economy is blocked

Santa Fe, NM- Today, House Democrats passed a massive tax increase on middle class New Mexicans in an effort to increase the Working Families Tax Credit and Low Income Tax Rebate. HB 291 increases taxes by $80 million dollars, one of several tax increases moving through the Legislature this session that could raise as much as $500 million. House Republicans offered an alternative that would have provided the same increase to the WFTC and LICTR without raising taxes on hard working New Mexican families.  The Republican alternative, offered by Representative Larry Scott (R-Hobbs), would have required non-fossil fuel energy producers to pay instead of New Mexico Taxpayers.