ABQJOURNAL OPINION/GUEST_COLUMNS: Balance Needed in Approach to Budget

Monday, August 23, 2010

Balance Needed in Approach to Budget

By Fred Harris
Former United States Senator
          New Mexico has dropped into the bottom five states, down three places to No. 46, in the Casey Foundation's new Kids Count national study measuring child well-being — based on 10 categories, including low birth weight, teen death rate, and the child poverty percentage.
        This is one more important indication that a balanced approach to the state's continuing revenue shortfalls would better protect New Mexico's working families. We need accountability in government, we need to close loopholes for out-of-state corporations, and we need to make sure the richest New Mexicans pay their fair share.
        Arguments urging more spending cuts miss the fact that huge cuts to necessary services like education, health care and public safety already have been made. These cuts are hurting New Mexican families every day.
        State government already has eliminated programs that prevent teenage suicide, smoking and drug abuse; cut back on school-readiness programs for young children; increased class sizes in our schools; reduced inspections of nursing homes for our most vulnerable elderly; and reduced eye and dental examinations for low-income people on Medicaid. Cuts like these to essential programs are simply not fair to New Mexico families. They didn't cause this recession but they are suffering from its effects the most.
        There is a fair and accountable solution to our state budget problem. There are many loopholes in New Mexico's tax system that mostly benefit the rich and big out-of-state corporations. We give a much bigger deduction for unearned income than most of the 50 states and fail to make out-of-state corporations pay income tax on their New Mexico profits, even though most other Western states require this from the very same big-box stores and chains. We also could restore the income tax rates on rich individuals back to where they were prior to being drastically cut in 2003. Finally, we should increase transparency and accountability in our state budget so we know just how much money is given away each year in the form of tax breaks and deductions.
        It's true that education amounts to 60 percent of our state budget. That's as it should be because education is the key to our economic development. Starving our public schools and higher education system will mean New Mexico will lack the well-educated, skilled and trained workers that a state needs to attract business. It's the same with areas like health care, public safety, and transportation — these, not special-interest tax deductions, are the building blocks for economic prosperity. These are the quality-of-life attributes that prospective businesses look for in a state and community when determining where to locate, as was recently shown in a CNBC ranking of the states on their business climates. If we cut back too much on these necessities, we're essentially eating our seed corn and that doesn't bode well for a prosperous future.
        In addition, cutting necessary state spending too much is actually worse for job growth than closing tax loopholes that benefit a few well-off people and big corporations. Every penny the state takes in goes back out into the community, supporting jobs that are badly needed in today's economy.
        Our leaders need to make a better choice and take a more balanced approach. Relying entirely on cuts will hurt our state today and threaten its ability to recover from this recession.
        UNM Professor Emeritus Fred Harris is a board member of NM Voices for Children (member, Better Choices NM Alliance)

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