It's appalling that the state would even consider reinstating a food tax. I moved here from Tennessee last year, a state that has a regressive tax on both food and clothing, which is hard enough on what's left of the middle class, but is devastating to the poor.

Despite what Albuquerque Chamber of Commerce President Terri Cole says, food taxes are very harmful to those who can barely afford milk and bread.

When you tax food, clothing and the fuel necessary for people to go to work, you also put a burden on the very people who can afford it least. Why not double the tax on alcohol and cigarettes? No one needs those to survive. Ah, but the poor are without the lobby that supports alcohol and cigarettes, and Cole knows that. Why did Cole receive front-page coverage with her erroneous point of view, while the statements of those who work with the poor and know them best were buried on Page 3?




Now there is talk of taxing food! Legislators should think outside their comfort zones. They should show up for the full session and not take breaks to go hunting. Cuts should come from the top down, not the bottom up. How much glut and fluff can the state do without? Does a state $650 million in debt need its own jet? How much administrative cost could be trimmed? Emulate the states that have no deficit. They are the ones with the fewest taxes. It is a cop-out to raise and charge taxes on virtually everything. It hurts the working-class poor the most.




Many thanks for "Restore food tax? That's a cruel idea," your Nov. 17 editorial. For the past three decades greed has ruled the U.S. to the point that inequalities of wealth have returned us to the age of the robber barons and threaten us with the specter of self-destruction that we have recently witnessed on Wall Street. The super-rich, however, recover nicely, while those at the bottom are paying the heaviest price in unemployment, foreclosure and eviction. Trickle-down theories should have been thoroughly discredited by now because our economic policies have clearly worked in reverse, enriching the few and impoverishing the many.

As your editorial suggests, the solution to the state's current budget imbalance is not to reinstate a regressive, oppressive tax on food, but rather to repeal that state income-tax break our governor granted the rich when he first took office. Either we revoke that discredited trickle-down measure or we rob our schools and other programs that benefit those who need help the most. I hope and pray the majority of our governor's new budget task force is focused on the common good, not on the self-interests of the privileged few.




Albuquerque Chamber of Commerce President Terri Cole says the food tax breaks haven't helped the poor! Does that mean she thinks that bringing back taxes on food would help the poor and make them happier? How about raising the tax on the wealthy? The rest of us need some help in supporting the state.


Rethink furloughs

Furloughs are one way we can all help bring our state out of the rubble. It would be nice if the governor would consider what will happen to the families of state employees with two furlough days in the same pay period. It saddens me to think that there are families out there where both the husband and the wife are employed by state government. They will have such a huge burden to bear. Two days without pay in the same pay period become four days without pay. I do not believe the governor has thought this through.


Blame game

Blame a depressed economy, low voter turnout, high joblessness, and political opposition "arm twisting": What a typical bureaucratic response to an unfavorable outcome in this week's vote on county fire protection funding. Thank goodness it didn't snow on Tuesday. Placing the blame on externalities is a rather obvious ploy in order to deflect criticism away from internal organizational deficiencies.

When will the county folks learn to set and stick to budget priorities, as well as to understand the distinction between need to have versus nice to have? Also, continuing to use increases in the highly regressive gross-receipts tax as a cover for government-leadership and priority-setting shortcomings is not an acceptable option to already stretched, local taxpayers. The New Mexican does not escape criticism. Its use of the phrase "...rural voters..." in its page 1 headline on Wednesday is demeaning to any voter.


End all double-dipping

In these difficult financial times for our state, I applaud the governor for ending any future double-dipping by retired state employees. However, that does not solve the whole problem. All ongoing double-dipping must stop! This is not the intent of the retirement plan for public employees. Any state employee getting a paycheck who also receives retirement benefits from the state should be given a choice: your job or your benefits, but not both!

That money could be going toward the shortfall in education funding for our public schools. Double-dipping is wrong and should not be tolerated by the citizens of New Mexico. Stop all double-dipping!


PRC, heed concerns

The response of Public Regulation Commission administrators to the ethics survey represents a bald-faced insult, and perhaps a veiled threat, to those who called them on their unethical behavior. Asked to address ethical malpractice, responses in the 80th percentile suggest that this survey was not being misused by dishonest malcontents, but rather was taken seriously by ethical people who know unethical practice when they see it. And had the courage to say so. Four of every five people.

For the commissioners to decide that the appropriate response is to name a panel, create a curriculum to "educate" the people who criticized them, strongly states that positive, meaningful response is of no interest to them. And that as commissioners and administrators, they needn't even pretend to be bothered. How can we back up these serious participants. They stood up. Shouldn't we?