Presidential scouting reports.

• Author: Gessing, Paul J.
• Position: Letters - Letter to the editor

Gov. Bill Richardson has indeed reduced New Mexico's top income tax rate from 8.2 percent to 4.9 percent, but calling him "one of the country's most tightfisted executives" is a bit of a stretch ("Presidential Scouting Reports," June).

After all, Richardson just signed a one-year budget increase of greater than 10 percent, fueled by the massive growth of New Mexico's oil and gas industries. This is not an anomaly: Richardson's spending has far outpaced the combined effects of inflation and population growth every year he's been in office.

An example of this profligacy is the $400 million taxpayers are being forced to spend on a commuter rail boondoggle that will soon travel a sparsely populated route from Albuquerque to Santa Fe. Because of priorities like this, Richardson has missed a golden opportunity, in light of the inflow of oil revenue, to further reduce New Mexico's onerous tax burden. This tax burden includes a convoluted...