You Are Screwed

As a former Mayor I now have to say that I have no faith in Mayor Berry at all.  For him to sit and take such a screw job from the Governor and Legislature on the last  minute tax package shows he cares more about party line than the people in his city.

The legislature and Governor dropped taxes on corporations and the rich.  Don't you doubt it.  And to make up for it they are taking away dollars from the cities and counties in New Mexico by phasing out revenues that made up for the removal of gross receipts taxes on food some years ago.  (A victory there for Governor Richardson.)

Now the chicken democrats and right wing Governor and republican legislators have done something that raises taxes, (you guessed it!) on the poor and working people of New Mexico.  And our Mayor says he is hopeful that the lower taxes on business and the rich will translate into a revenue neutral situation.  What a load of crap!  What a huge load of crap!  The cities and counties will be forced to raise their gross receipts taxes to make up for the difference.  In Albuquerque it is already 7%!  It was just 5.5% when I was Mayor.  It is without a doubt the most regressive kind of tax.

And what does the Governor say?  She said it was something didn't want to do but it was done in a spirit of compromise.  That is her way of having her cake and eating it too. How much longer will people continue to let themselves be screwed?