Tax increases discussed include grocery tax

tax increases are on the table as the governor's budget balancing task force meets at the state f...  More »

tax increases are on the table as the governor's budget balancing task force meets at the state fairgrounds. so just what kind of tax increases are they talking about? stuart dyson is live at the fairgrounds with a look. can you feel something pulling on your wallet? they call it the budget balancing task force -- but tax increases were the only thing on the agenda today. a sure sign of where the richardson administration is heading. most but not all of the 40-odd sk force members agree with the governor that tax increases are inevitable. they disagree over which taxes need to go up -- and whic taxpayers will bear the burden. there are proposals to jack up taxes on booze. on tobacco... ...and on groceries -- hey we just got rid of that tax four years ago. "it's a very regressive anti-family tax. it's regressive in the sense that lower and middle income people have to pay a greater amount of their income on their food. so it hits them disproportionately worse." the task force is also considering higher excise taxes on cars and trucks. and higher taxes on the fuel that keeps them going. "they have a category for the gross receipts tax on gasoline. if you only had gas at $2.50 a gallon that would be $.18 a gallon more that you would pay for gasoline. q: that's one thing they're looking at? a: yes." income tax hikes are an option too. for income over a hundred-grand. but the governor makes no secret of his opposition to that. the tax soup simmering right now will come to a full boil in january when lawmakers convene to tackle what's left of a shortfall still in the hundreds of millions of dollars for the current budget year -- and another half-a- billion or so in the next budget year.// new mexico's medicaid program may also face cuts as the state looks for ways to save money. the state human services department is looking at possibly scaling back medical services and eligibility. only people who must be covered by federal law would be eligible for the medicaid program. about a half- million new mexicans are currently covered by the state's medicaid plan  « Less