Should Gov. Bill Richardson push for higher personal or corporate income taxes? Or should he seek to raise taxes on food, or cigarettes, or alcohol, or cars?

A 40-plus member task force he appointed to study various tax ideas for easing the state budget crisis wraps up its work today at the Santa Fe Community College campus.

The Budget Balancing Task Force will present the governor with a report next week, but don't expect any specific recommendations on how to tackle the deficit, currently estimated at about $600 million. Instead, the panel will just list "pros and cons" of various proposals, based on discussions during five public meetings.

"I don't think we've reached any consensus, but it wasn't designed to reach a consensus," task force member Jerry Walker said. Walker is a former Farmington legislator who currently is president and chief executive officer of the state Independent Community Bankers Association.

Some have complained the governor's task force is a window dressing to give the appearance of public input before a legislative session begins in January to deal with the fiscal pain. One observer, noting the number of lobbyists on the panel, called it a "Noah's Ark of special interests."

Others, however, defend the process. While he's a little frustrated that the task force won't be making recommendations, Walker said he believes the discussion among business interests, social services advocates and government representatives has been worthwhile. "There's value," he said, "in that nobody should be surprised" at the bills eventually introduced.

It's not clear which, if any, tax increases Richardson would get behind, although he said before appointing the tax force that some kind of tax hike is "inevitable."

It's even less clear which proposals would make it through the Legislature. Senate Finance Committee Chairman John Arthur Smith, D-Deming, said Tuesday that around the state lawmakers are getting a message of "no tax increases."

"I think the House is getting a little skittish," Smith told a reporter. That's also the case for some senators, who previously supported tax increases and are having second thoughts.

Almost any tax increase would be hard for Richardson to swallow. He got much national attention early in his administration for pushing personal income tax cuts for higher-income brackets. When he ran for president, he campaigned as a "tax-cutting Democrat."

In 2004, Richardson also got behind the successful effort to eliminate gross receipts taxes on most food items. But bringing back the food tax has been one of the task force's most discussed proposals, members say.

In the Legislature, bringing back this tax is one proposal that Smith said could have some traction. It's a broad-based tax, which means the impact is spread around. However, Smith said, some would oppose bringing back the tax as a moral issue.

Indeed, last week a coalition of various religious and social activist groups — including the New Mexico Conference of Catholic Bishops, the New Mexico Conference of Churches, American Association of Retired People, and the Santa Fe Alliance — formed to oppose any increase in food taxes. Lt. Gov. Diane Denish came out against it, saying, "When nearly one in four New Mexico children go to bed hungry, making it more difficult for their parents to buy basic food is simply unconscionable." The Santa Fe County Democratic Party recently passed a resolution against the proposal.

Task force member Fred Nathan — who heads a think tank called Think New Mexico, which first proposed eliminating tax on food — has what looks like a ream of paper containing e-mails from people opposing the food-tax proposal.

Among them are e-mails from several legislators opposed to the move. Rep. Brian Egolf, D-Santa Fe, wrote to a constituent saying, "Such a tax is regressive and unnecessary." Rep. Jeanette Wallace, R-Los Alamos, wrote, "The gov and HIS task force stirred the (food-tax) pot, not the Legislature."

Nathan has proposed a tax on junk food such as candy and sugar-based soft drinks.

Walker, who's staunchly opposed to many of the tax-increase proposals such as an estate tax and various proposals to "use the tax systems to change personal habits and lifestyles," said of the food tax, "It's broad-based and has a low impact. If I was still in the Legislature, I'd take a look at that."

The state Tax and Revenue Department, in material provided to the task force, estimated that the exemption has cost the state $228 million a year. Nathan, however, said that figure is twice the amount the department estimated just four years ago.

Terri Cole, executive director the Albuquerque Chamber of Commerce, has been one of the leading advocates for bringing back the gross receipts tax on food.

But even if that proposal becomes a reality, Cole said Wednesday, that wouldn't nearly be enough to fix the state's financial problems.

"The time has come for restructuring the government instead of just a nip and tuck here and there," she said.

Contact Steve Terrell at 986-3037 or sterrell@sfnewmexican.com. Read his political blog at roundhouseroundup.com.