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Campana Radial en NM informa sobre Exenciones Tributarias a las industrias de Gas y Petroleo

The New Mexico News Connection is a Statewide News Service for New Mexico

LAS CRUCES, N.M. – Cada vez gastamos más en llenar el tanque de gasolina y lo estamos pagando de dos maneras. El Fondo Educativo Progress Now Nuevo México dice que los automovilistas pagan en la gasolinería – mientras que las industrias de gas y petróleo reciben $4 billones al año en exenciones tributarias provenientes de nuestras contribuciones a impuestos. Estas ganancias son en adición a los $137 billones que las industrias reportaron en ganancias el año pasado.

A través de una nueva campaña radial, este fondo educativo sin fines de lucro hace un llamado de atención al público sobre estas exenciones. Su director ejecutivo, Pat Davis, dice que los anuncios también señalan que el Congresista Steve Pearce de Nuevo México ha apoyado estas exenciones tributarias ocho veces desde el año 2011.

“Esperamos que el Congresista Pearce escuche de sus constituyentes que actualmente existen problemas más importantes que dar exenciones tributarias a esas compañías. Con esto puede que lo animaremos a que cambie de opinión.”

Dice Davis que su grupo busca concientizar al público sobre si es apropiado estar ofreciendo exenciones tributarias a compañías lucrativas, cuando ese dinero se puede aplicar en programas que echen a andar la economía como ayudar a la industria ecológica y contratar a más personas en los pequeños negocios locales.

Ariel Bickel de las Cruces dice que ella trata de trabajar lo más que puede desde su casa para evitar pagar tanto por gasolina. Cree que muchas personas sufren en silencio acerca de los incrementos en precio de la gasolina por sentir que no hay nada que pueden hacer al respecto. Tiene esperanza que esta campaña radial logre convencer al público que está en manos de ellos, los votantes.

“Lo que en verdad me enfada es que veo como existe rapiña hacia el sentimiento público de no poder hacer nada al respecto y se promueve una ola de enojo que está siendo utilizada erróneamente.”

El grupo conocido como Taxpayers for Common Sense (Contribuyentes por el Sentido Común) tiene una lista de 14 exenciones tributarias a las compañías de gas y petróleo, con algunas de ellas nombradas como “costos intangibles de perforación” y “porcentaje de concesiones por agotamiento.” Solo estas dos suman exenciones de $2 billones y medio al ano.

Beth Blakeman reporting.

New Mexico Radio Campaign Targets Tax Breaks for Oil and Gas Industry

from the New Mexico News Connection - A Statewide News Service for New Mexico
LAS CRUCES, N.M. - Topping off the tank is getting more expensive, critics say, as drivers pay for their fuel in two places. At the same time drivers are paying at the pump, according to the Progress Now New Mexico Education Fund, taxpayers are giving $4 billion a year in tax breaks to the oil and gas industry.

The nonprofit group calls attention to these tax breaks in a new radio advertising campaign. Its executive director, Pat Davis, says the ads point out that one New Mexico congressman has supported the breaks eight times since February 2011: Republican Rep. Steve Pearce.

"We hope that Congressman Pearce will get to hear from constituents who know there are bigger problems right now than oil and gas profits. Hopefully, they'll have that conversation with him, and we hope to change his mind."

Davis says his group wants to get people thinking about whether it's appropriate to be offering tax breaks to for-profit companies, when that money could be used instead to spur the economy by helping green industries and hiring more people in local businesses.

Ariel Bickel of central New Mexico says she tries to work as much as possible from home to avoid the pain at the pump. She believes many people suffer from high gas prices in silence, feeling that there isn't anything they can do to change them. She hopes the radio spots will convince them that they have some power on this issue - as voters.

"What really upsets me is, I think there's preying on the despair of people to promote this wave of anger that's misplaced. This is why getting the truth out about the issues is so imperative."

The group Taxpayers for Common Sense has a list of 14 oil and gas tax breaks, with names such as "percentage depletion allowance" and "intangible drilling costs." Together, it says, these amount to more than $2.5 billion each year.

Beth Blakeman reporting

NM Touts Energy-Efficiency Success Stories

from the New Mexico News Connection - A statewide news service for New Mexico
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. - Local energy-efficiency programs are working in New Mexico and across the nation, according to a new report, and Albuquerque is home to several examples.

Designing buildings with smart energy use in mind is beneficial to the economy as well as the environment, says developer Gary Goodman, chief executive officer of Goodman Realty.

"If somebody's not spending money on their gas or electric bill, they're spending it in goods and services in the cities they live in. When they do that, it churns the economy far more than spending that same money on a utility bill."

In 40 years as a developer, Goodman says, he's learned the value of energy efficiency over time. When his company renovated the Hotel Andaluz, he says, it installed a high-efficiency solar water heating system. Before the renovation, he says, the hotel used 1 million gallons of water a month. Since the remodel, he says, it uses about a third of that.

Among the features of the Andaluz, New Mexico's only LEED-certified hotel, is something Goodman calls "constant energy management."

"The act of somebody checking in automatically brings a room up to temperature. When somebody leaves the room, it goes back. When they return, it goes up again."

Another LEED-certified building is the Silver Gardens apartments in Albuquerque. Formerly a bus station, it is now a winner of a Smart Growth Achievement Award from the Environmental Protection Agency. Developer Theresa Bell says it was designed to help lower residents' energy costs.

"It saves the tenants $25 to $50 a month; that's somebody's groceries or gas. It saves the owner thousands of dollars in common-area utilities expenses."

Both Bell and Goodman are developing new buildings they say will have even more innovative energy-saving systems. By focusing on energy efficiency, says Environment New Mexico, the state could reduce its emissions from power generation by almost a third by 2030.

The report, "Building a Better America," is online at environmentnewmexicocenter.org

Beth Blakeman reporting, nmnc@newsservice.org

Prosperity Works to Launch New Business Network

from the New Mexico News Connection - A statewide news service for New Mexico
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. - The Individual Development Account program has been helping New Mexico's lower-income people start or expand businesses, go to school or purchase homes for eight years. Prosperity Works, the group which funds the program, is celebrating the anniversary by helping to market IDA-funded businesses.

The nonprofit is starting a new network for those small companies on its prosperityworks.net website.

Laureen Lerch, Prosperity Works communications director, explains what visitors will see when they go to the site.

"We're going to create a New Mexico map so you can click on each county, and when you click on that county, all the small businesses from IDAs that have opened, you can pull up their website or get their address."

Lerch says the map should be ready within the next few months. In the meantime, the nonprofit is using social media to create a forum so people in the IDA program can connect with each other.

Prosperity Works has started a Facebook group to allow anyone in the IDA program who has opened or is planning to open a business to chat. It's also available to anyone who is just curious about the program. Lerch says it isn't for sharing competitive information, such as finances or business plans, but can be a resource for getting advice from other small-business owners.

"We can have an open group discussion for businesses to market their products and services. And then we'll monitor the group, and if that is a concern, we can set up a private, closed group on Facebook."

To find the group, look for "New Mexico IDA Businesses" on the Facebook site.

One business which received an IDA grant is Bikeworks in Albuquerque. Rick Nolan owns the company, which rents, delivers and picks up bicycles. He says he used the money from the award to start a new line of road bikes.

"To invest in an extension of our fleet, we added another category. If we hadn't had those funds, we probably wouldn't have realized the amount of revenue that we generated with the road bikes."

Nolan likes the idea of an IDA network, and says he wants to be able to meet other New Mexico entrepreneurs.

The Facebook page is at facebook.com/newmexicoidabusinesses
Beth Blakeman reporting, nmnc@newsservice.org .

New Mexicans Call For the Creation of the Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks National Monument

from the New Mexico News Connection - A statewide news service for New Mexico
LAS CRUCES, N.M. - A coalition of business and political leaders, archaeologists, historians and civic groups is calling for a new national monument for New Mexico.

The Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks proposal would help Doña Ana County focus on what Commissioner Billy Garrett considers high-quality growth, to draw tourists, new residents and businesses into the area.

He points out that Las Cruces is the state's second largest city.

"We know that Doña Ana County is going to grow. The current projections are that we're going to increase from about 200,000 people to 350,000 people by 2040."

Garrett points to the area's history, scenery and heritage in identifying what makes it attractive to those who want to relocate. He believes creating a national monument is critical to protecting these values.

New Mexico historian Jon Hunner calls the Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks area a multi-layered landscape which reflects the history of the desert Southwest, in the upheaval and volcanic activity in its geology. When Hunner thinks about the economy and the city of Las Cruces, he thinks about natural beauty.

"To have this national monument surrounding it would provide an impetus for heritage tourism and also for people who are interested in the natural resources - birders, geologists, people who just want to come and see a desert landscape."

Hunner considers the national monument a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to protect the Mesilla Valley's important American and New Mexican history.

In its 100th year as a state, New Mexico is looking to preserve tokens of history which trace back through the Camino Real, the space race, World War II, volcanoes and petroglyphs. Garrett says there are many treasures to be rediscovered in these 500,000 acres.

"They did find remains of a giant sloth in Kilbourne Hole, which is near the lava flow. And that, as I understand, is now in the Peabody Museum."

Kilbourne Hole is also the site where Apollo astronauts trained for walking on the moon in 1969. Garrett believes this and other sites within the proposed monument area will be of interest to eco-tourists, archaeologists and sportsmen, which could also be a boon to the New Mexico economy.
Beth Blakeman reporting, nmnc@newsservice.org

NM Lawmakers Support Bringing Back Call Center Jobs

from the New Mexico News Connection - A statewide news service for New Mexico
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. - New Mexicans know the drill: call a company's customer-service line and, often, you end up speaking with someone in another country. It's an annoyance to some people, but a new report from the Communications Workers of America points to more serious concerns.

CWA's Legislative Director Shane Larson says the report documents a risk of fraud related to employees in overseas call centers.

"Over the last five, six years, a large number of identity thefts have happened. There is an overall lack of basic data security protections in those countries."

The bill suggests some of this can be avoided by allowing U.S. customers to ask to be transferred to call centers located in the United States.

Larson supports bipartisan legislation known as the U.S. Call Center Worker and Consumer Protection Act. Co-sponsored by New Mexico Congressmen Ben Lujan and Martin Heinrich, the bill would give people the right to be notified where a call center is located, and to request a transfer to a U.S. center. It would also take steps against corporations that send U.S. call center jobs overseas.

"The Department of Labor would keep a record. You would be ineligible for loans, grants, and would go to the back of the line for any federal contracts."

Larson says that in 2006 there were 27,000 call center jobs based in New Mexico, but the number shrank to 21,000 by 2010. He hopes the report and legislation will encourage companies to take another look at their outsourcing decisions and, at a time when the nation is focused on job creation, consider bringing those jobs back.

The CWA report, "Why Shipping Call Centers Jobs Overseas Hurts Us Back Home," is at http://bit.ly/zwflu4.

Beth Blakeman reporting, nmnc@newsservice.org

 

"Occupy Philanthropy?" Givers and the Wealth Gap Examined

from the New Mexico News Connection - A statewide news service for New Mexico
"Occupy Philanthropy?" Givers and the Wealth Gap Examined
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. - The super-rich grew more charitable last year, according to a report compiling the donations of the nation's wealthiest givers - even as public opinion of them became less so.

The Chronicle of Philanthropy's annual list shows that the top 50 most generous Americans gave a median of $61 million in 2011, up from $39.6 million in 2010.

Does that mean the Occupy Wall Street movement's focus on income disparity had an impact on these billionaires? Caroline Preston, the study's co-author, says she saw some signs that the wealthy are zeroing in on these issues.

"But I don't think that, at least yet, we're seeing any big move by the super-wealthy to reshape their giving as a result of the scrutiny that they're under."

Preston says it's likely last year's rebound in the stock market played as much or more of a role. One foundation in New Mexico reports the giving has increased during the recession, particularly by smaller donors.

The national conversation about the "haves" and "have nots" has the philanthropy community looking for signs that it's having an effect on charitable donors, Preston says.

Randy Royster, who heads the Albuquerque Community Foundation, says its larger donors seem to be holding their wealth a little more closely these days.

"We've seen that level of gift-giving drop. We've even had conversations with those types of donors where they've said, 'We've got the money, but we're waiting to see what's going to happen.'"

New Mexicans are very giving people, Royster says, no matter the national climate. As awareness of the need in the community and beyond increases, he predicts, many people will step up and give. He says the foundation already has seen an increase in smaller gifts.

"Those gifts that are $100, $250, $500 - that level of giving, even up to the $1,000 level - that level of giving has changed quite a bit."

The Chronicle's research is online at http://philanthropy.com .
Beth Blakeman reporting, nmnc@newsservice.org

When Small Business Really Means Big

from the New Mexico News Connection - A statewide news service for New Mexico
SANTA FE, N.M. - New Mexico Governor Susana Martinez has made boosting opportunities for small businesses in the state a priority, but several groups dealing with environmental and health care issues say those efforts are falling short.

One of the groups crying "foul" over the small business initiatives is Food and Water Watch. State organizer Eleanor Bravo says one of Martinez's early actions upon taking office was to form the "Small Business Friendly Task Force." Bravo says small is not what this task force is about.

"Well, it is neither small, nor business-friendly. It is made up of big lobbyist corporations."

Bravo says Martinez has been the target of numerous complaints that campaign contributors were recipients of special treatment resulting in regulation relief that led to the dismantling of rules already in place and to questionable lease awards.

The governor says she simply is trying to "create an environment where small businesses and entrepreneurs can thrive and hire workers." She added that "requires New Mexico to be competitive with other states so that New Mexico businesses do not flee elsewhere."

Barbara Webber, executive director of Health Action New Mexico, says big business is also calling the shots on health care reform. She points to the governor calling for a Medicaid redesign for New Mexico without involving the legislature, and sweeping health insurance changes, as prime examples.

"Transparency that she campaigned on has not always been in force. There may be an agenda and we don't know what that agenda is for sure."

Webber says the Martinez administration appears to be leaning toward big business in its dealings concerning the Health Insurance Exchange - so suspected because the industry-member group, Health Insurance Alliance, has been appointed to the exchange's board of directors. The Alliance has representatives from Lovelace, Presbyterian, Blue Cross-Blue Shield and United Health Care on its board, all large organizations.
Beth Blakeman reporting, nmnc@newsservice.org

When Is A Bank Not A Bank? The USDA - Making A Real Difference in New Mexico

from the New Mexico News Connection - A statewide news service for New Mexico
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. - The Rural Development Agency, under the umbrella of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, offers many of the services Americans used to count on from their banks, with one large proviso: These services are available only in rural areas.

Terry Brunner, the USDA's New Mexico director for rural development, oversees about 45 programs which do everything from providing loans for small and emerging private businesses to assisting in development of advanced biofuels. At one time, his agency helped bring electricity to rural farms and ranches across the nation.

Brunner says its mission has grown.

"We also have some programs where we give money to nonprofits and public bodies that are re-lenders or micro-lenders. So, they use our money to re-lend it out in the community. So we are doing, in some ways, what banks do."

Brunner says the agency's loans, grants and services are part of an effort to facilitate rural community and economic development. The Rural Development Agency still helps with utility concerns in rural areas, he says, but it also has a vibrant housing program.

"We're one of the largest housing financial institutions in the U.S., and we provide hundreds of home loans and loan guarantees for banks, for people around New Mexico. We also have community facilities program, where we help finance the building of community centers and courthouses and hospitals and clinics."

The agency also offers loan guarantees for businesses, he says, including those which want to increase energy efficiency.

Today, "rural development" can mean anything from small farms and farmers' markets to broadband access. For the latter, Brunner says, his agency has yet to cover the entire state, but is working diligently to link producers to consumers.

"We do a lot of broadband work. We've spent about $150 million in the last couple years in broadband in New Mexico. We've got projects all around the state - First, Middle and Last Mile projects. A lot of those are stimulus projects out to cooperatives and member-owned phone companies in these rural areas."

Since the start of the current administration, Brunner says, the Rural Development Agency has spent about $1 billion in loans, loan guarantees and grants around New Mexico.

Beth Blakeman reporting, nmnc@newsservice.org

The Bottom Has Dropped Out of the State's Public Education Budget

from the New Mexico News Connection - A statewide news service for New Mexico
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. - In its Children's Fiscal Policy Project report, New Mexico Voices for Children says the public schools in the Land of Enchantment are getting squeezed. Gerry Bradley, research director for the nonpartisan, nonprofit organization, describes what he sees as the result of the drop in funding for the current school year.

"We will have fewer people, fewer teachers, fewer social workers, fewer school nurses in the K-12 system, and that will lead to larger class sizes and, I think, a poorer quality of instruction."

Voices for Children seeks to raise new revenue for the state's public schools next year.

Bradley points out that New Mexico made up the revenue shortfall in 2009 with federal revenues from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The loss of those federal stimulus funds has resulted in a decline of just over 5 percent in the public school budget from fiscal year 2011 to FY 2012.

"Part of what I hope my report does, is tell the Legislature that we're entering an era of lower expenditures in public education in New Mexico, and maybe it's time to take a deep breath and look at increasing taxes on the higher income groups and on corporations."

Bradley says New Mexico's method of paying for public schools is more centralized than that of other states, with the largest portion of funding coming from the state general fund, which relies heavily on income and sales taxes.

New Mexico Governor Susana Martinez believes classroom instruction should not be affected, provided superintendents and school districts across the state focus on getting the fat out of their bureaucracies.

The New Mexico Voices for Children website is at www.nmvoices.org

The "Funding Public Schools in New Mexico in the Great Recession" report can be viewed at: www.nmvoices.org.

Renee Blake reporting, nmnc@newsservice.org