These last few years, the New Mexico state budget has grown to monstrous proportions thanks to taxes paid by the oil and gas industry. Yet, as prices rise at the pump, Governor Richardson’s next great idea is to hit the oil and gas industry with a request for another $50 million in “voluntary” taxes.
Heck, if $50 million is all he needs, why doesn’t he ask billionaire Richard Branson to pay for his own spaceport, and then he’ll have a $100 million to help New Mexicans at the pump. Or maybe, Governor Richardson can put the train to nowhere on hold and give back New Mexicans $350 million to help them at the pump.
Of course, Governor Richardson is not alone in the stupid idea category. Patricia Madrid – in a lame attempt to change the focus from the eight years of political corruption that thrived under her tenure as Attorney General – has decided to jump on the gas-to-high bandwagon and make it a campaign issue. Her answer, like Richardson, is to raise taxes on oil companies.
This is the problem with career politicians. They haven’t got a clue how the business world works. Let me make it real simple folks. The government raise taxes, businesses increase prices. Consumers pay more, not less. If Madrid and Richardson want to do something for New Mexicans at the pump, how about they push for an elimination of the 36.4 cents a gallon in taxes we pay every time we fill up our tank with gas?