Sen. Cliff Pirtle | Facebook
Sen. Cliff Pirtle | Facebook
With the huge impact brought about by COVID-19 on businesses, New Mexico Republicans are looking at a few bills that could help businesses recover.
Sen. Cliff Pirtle (R-Roswell) and Sen. Steve Neville (R-Farmington) are filing legislation that could help New Mexico businesses.
Sen. Neville has filed legislation that would modify the process for establishing payments in lieu of taxes for projects dealing with transmission or electric generation. Currently, energy projects for electrical generation would often utilize industrial bonds that are secured by government agencies on behalf of the private company. These bonds exempt a project from several taxes, including property taxes. Subsequently, private sector companies make payments in lieu of taxes.
Sen. Pirtle, on the other hand, is proposing to waive penalties and interest that would normally be determined and computed for failing to pay the gross receipts tax. He is suggesting to apply this retroactively “to the start of the public health emergency orders and continue until two months after the orders are lifted,” according to the Farmington Daily Times.
Business owners would be required to pay in full the unpaid taxes “on or before the twenty-fifth day of the third month following the expiration or rescission of the public health order,” the pre-filed legislation states, the publication reported.
Another bill from Sen. Pirtle is for those small businesses that have closed because of the COVID-19 pandemic. He is proposing appropriating $55 million from the general fund to a special pandemic reparations fund.
The legislative session had commenced on Jan. 19 at noon.
Alerts Sign-up