Taking a Look at New Mexico's Film Subsidies!
Film subsidy expansion would drain state’s coffers
Strong growth in the oil patch has given New Mexico’s legislators a little “new money” to spend. There is no shortage of ways that our Legislature has cooked up in order to spend it, but perhaps the worst idea of them all is to eliminate the $50 million cap on annual...
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NM can balance budget without hurting economy
No politician relishes the job facing New Mexico’s leadership in the months ahead. Facing massive budget deficits and the prospect of an election-year special session in an unpredictable and unsettled political season is no elected official’s anyone’s idea of fun....
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What to Cut: Finding $600 Million in Savings w/o Raising Taxes
ALBUQUERQUE — It is no secret that New Mexico faces serious budget challenges. Senate Finance Committee Chairman John Arthur Smith called the budget situation “a crisis” and noted that the State is facing a deficit of more than $150 million for the budget year that...
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Correcting the Record on Gary Johnson’s Fiscal Legacy
The following article by RGF president Paul Gessing was written in response to an article that appeared a few days ago (linked below) which attacked former New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson's fiscal record in New Mexico. As the free market think tank working in New Mexico,...
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State Has Many Opportunities to Reduce Spending
Journal columnist Winthrop Quigley seems to believe that what New Mexico’s struggling economy needs right now is higher taxes. We at the Rio Grande Foundation couldn’t disagree more and believe raising taxes would have further deleterious effects on our economy....
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No Need to Raise Taxes in New Mexico
The budget numbers are changing (for the worse) on an almost daily basis. The latest information calls for a 12% decline in General Fund revenues which means a reduction of $700-$800 million (not factoring in rainy-day funds etc). The point remains, as I note below,...
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No More Santa Fe Studios Subsidies
When is $10 million in taxpayer money simply not enough? In the case of the people who already got a sweetheart deal to build Santa Fe Studios, when you can ask for $22 million more. There is likely no other business in the State of New Mexico that has received as...
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Yet Another Reason to Yell “Cut” on New Mexico Film Subsidies
The results of yet another report on New Mexico’s film subsidy program were recently released. This study was commissioned by the New Mexico Film Office and conducted by the Canadian accounting firm MNP. It included payroll data, industry interviews, and financial...
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Right-to-Work Law and Lower Taxes Will Help More than Subsidies
It's official. Tesla has broken ground at its new "gigafactory" near Reno, Nevada. While New Mexico appears to have missed out on Tesla and its expected 6,500 jobs, some legislators, when asked, seem willing to spend as much as 500 million tax dollars to lure the...
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New Mexico Economy in Search of Leadership
The year 2012 was a tough one for New Mexico’s economy. Without going through the litany of evidence, our state was the only Western state to be found on United Van Lines’ list of “top-outbound” states. And, while the US as a whole grew by an anemic 2.2% during the...
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Discussing Film Incentives on New Mexico “In Focus”
Rio Grande Foundation president Paul Gessing appeared on "In Focus" on Friday night to discuss New Mexico's film subsidies. Mr. Walpole unfortunately got away with a fib at the very end of the interview. We do indeed know exactly how much other tax incentives are...
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Union Pacific, Film Industry Deals Very Different
The state of New Mexico and southern New Mexico in particular, face a great opportunity. One of America's great railroads, Union Pacific, is hoping to build a $400 million railroad hub in Santa Teresa. While there would be a few, relatively minor, tax incentives given...
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