Republican candidate for governor Greg Hull announced his plan to incrementally eliminate New Mexico’s state income tax at a press conference on Monday morning.
"Step one would give tax relief to more than 50 percent of all New Mexicans, and we will carefully move into step two," Hull said.
Over the course of four clearly defined steps, Hull wants to remove income tax, first for the state’s lowest incomes and gradually step up to higher earners. Hull pointed out that state revenues have outpaced household incomes in the last five years.
While Hull said he intends to evaluate existing state social programs, he
said his plan has assurances in place that will not require cutting any existing benefits.
"This plan pre-assumes all costs for all pre-existing programs being paid for, and those are the safety checks before we move from one plan to another," Hull said.
Hull said the first wave of the plan would eliminate $1400 a year in tax expenses for New Mexico’s lowest earners.
"That's money that can go to pay for groceries," Hull said. "That's money that can help pay for health insurance. That's money that can help make a car payment so that so that somebody trying to make ends meet has transportation to get to work."
While it has mostly been Republicans floating the idea of eliminating the state’s income tax, State Senator George Muñoz write and op-ed in the Santa Fe New Mexican in July that he would support reducing or eliminating the state’s income tax. Muñoz is the head of the Senate Finance Committee. Hull believes his plan can garner bipartisan support.
"This isn't about being a Republican or Democrat," Hull said. "This is about being New Mexican, and so this is about putting money back into Mexicans' pockets, and I'm I'm committed to working in a nonpartisan way to get this relief to our citizens."
Hull’s opponent, Democrat Deb Haaland told the Albuquerque Journal that she supports tax reform but not “across-the-board cuts.”
