{"id":42526,"date":"2022-01-26T10:01:31","date_gmt":"2022-01-26T17:01:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/legislators-shun-bill-to-halt-tax-on-social-security-income\/"},"modified":"2022-01-26T17:01:31","modified_gmt":"2022-01-26T17:01:31","slug":"legislators-shun-bill-to-halt-tax-on-social-security-income","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/legislators-shun-bill-to-halt-tax-on-social-security-income\/","title":{"rendered":"Legislators shun bill to halt tax on Social Security income"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"New
New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, center, talks with local school officials at Sante Fe High School in Santa Fe on Wednesday. New Mexico is asking National Guard troops and state bureaucrats to voluntarily serve as substitute teachers as preschools and K-12 public schools struggle to keep classrooms open amid surging COVID-19 infections. (Morgan Lee\/Associated Press)<\/span>Morgan Lee<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

SANTA FE \u2013 A bill to do away with New Mexico\u2019s tax on Social Security income for middle- and upper-income residents faltered Tuesday at an initial public hearing, highlighting reluctance among many Democratic legislators.<\/p>\n

A state House panel declined to endorse legislation that would gradually eliminate the tax by 2026, stalling further consideration on a tie 4-4 vote with Democrats in opposition. Democratic state Rep. Miguel Garcia of Albuquerque joined with three Republicans in support.<\/p>\n

Democratic Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham endorsed a Social Security tax cut earlier this month in her State of the State speech, and related bills from Democrats are awaiting their first public vetting in the Legislature. The state already exempts low-income beneficiaries from the tax.<\/p>\n

Eliminating income tax on Social Security benefits would reduce annual general fund revenues by as much as $160 million by 2026, state taxation officials estimate.<\/p>\n

Republican sponsors of the tax-cut bill said the time is ripe amid inflationary pressures on household finances and surging state government income. They also say the bill would help the state retain and attract retirees.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know there\u2019s a cost to it and I realize that, but I think that in a time of pandemic and issues that we\u2019re facing with inflation, now is the time \u2013 and the year when we have a plethora of money,\u201d Republican state Rep. Gail Armstrong of Magdalena said.<\/p>\n

Anti-poverty groups and advocates for childhood well-being said the tax cut proposal ultimately threatens funding to essential services that help the poor. Several Democratic legislators raised similar concerns.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis for me is a question around equity and who needs the resources the most,\u201d said Democratic State Rep. Kay Bounkeua of Albuquerque. \u201cI would love to see the money put into those who are younger, and really have more resources for our families who are currently working.\u201d<\/p>\n

She said recent state population increases are concentrated among the elderly as New Mexico struggles to attract and retain younger residents.<\/p>\n

The governor and leading legislators are recommending a $1 billion increase in general fund spending for the coming fiscal year that starts on July 1, amid a windfall in state government income linked primarily to oil production and federal government spending.<\/p>\n

The Legislature\u2019s budget and accountability office cautioned that the proposed tax cut could make it more difficult to meet future state spending obligations.<\/p>\n

A dozen other states tax Social Security benefits in some fashion. In New Mexico, personal income taxes apply to Social Security benefits while following federal rules for exempting lower-income residents. Broad state tax exemptions apply to elderly residents with income up to $38,600 for individuals and $52,200 for couples.<\/p>\n

A bill from Democratic Sens. Bill Tallman and Martin Hickey of Albuquerque would do away with some taxes on Social Security income \u2013 though not for individuals earning over $72,000 or joint filers earning more than $124,000. State government income would be bolstered by changes to taxation of tobacco under the proposal.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, center, talks with local school officials at Sante Fe High School in Santa Fe on Wednesday. New Mexico is asking National Guard troops and state bureaucrats to voluntarily serve as substitute teachers as preschools and K-12 public schools struggle to keep classrooms open amid surging COVID-19 infections. (Morgan Lee\/Associated […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":42527,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[815,138],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-42526","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-associated-press-new-mexico","tag-new-mexico"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42526","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42526"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42526\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/42527"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42526"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42526"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42526"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=42526"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}