Updated: Senate committee approves key tax package; Gov’s office blasts bill as “gimmicky”

A retooled tax package that seeks to cut some tax rates while enacting new limitations on existing tax incentives passed the Senate Finance Committee tonight on a 10-0 vote.

But a top finance official in Gov. Susana Martinez’s administration spoke against the measure, making the fate of the bill unclear with just five days left in this year’s 60-day legislative session.

A Martinez spokesman also released a statement calling the measure a “gimmicky” bill and saying the governor would not support it in its current form.

As currently crafted, the bill is a mix of Senate Bills 13, 251 and 538.

Among other things, it would:

* Lower the state’s top-end corporate income tax rate from 7.6 percent to 6.4 percent over the next two years.

* Tighten two existing tax incentives — a high-wage jobs tax credit and a gross receipts tax deduction for manufacturers.

* Change the way certain big out-of-state companies are required to file their corporate taxes.

The bill now moves on to the Senate floor. It’s unclear when a vote on it might be taken there.

Check tomorrow’s Journal for more.