New Mexico’s New Vision: Let Families Keep More. Make Santa Fe Deliver More.

Gregg Hull put income-tax elimination on the table. Some details will likely need tailoring but the vision deserves credit and serious support.

It takes guts to propose a substantial change, put it in writing, and invite scrutiny. Hull deserves credit for doing exactly that—not merely promising to manage the existing system a little differently.

His “Four Steps to Zero” asks New Mexico to consider a different starting point: let residents keep more eligible income while protecting essential services and refundable credits.

Big changes can sound unsettling in the abstract. The conversation becomes more concrete when people understand what could remain in their wallets.

A paycheck—and a retirement check

In his October 13 video, Hull describes proposed state-income-tax relief for tips, PERA pensions, and Social Security benefits. These are household examples of his conditional phaseout, not immediate exemptions.

That makes the vision tangible: more of a worker’s tips after a shift, more eligible pension income retained in retirement, and relief on Social Security benefits still subject to state taxation.

New Mexico already exempts Social Security for many recipients under income-based eligibility rules. Hull’s proposal would not create additional savings on benefits already exempt.

His first step would exempt the first $25,000 of eligible taxable personal income for single filers and $50,000 for joint filers. Those are taxable-income bands, not gross salaries.

An illustrative example accompanying the proposal gives a single filer earning $40,000 an $800 annual state-income-tax reduction—approximately $67 a month. Individual savings would vary.

That will not solve every financial problem. But it can mean breathing room.

Some could buy groceries in Deming, fuel in Bloomfield, or a vehicle repair in Raton. Some would be saved or used to reduce debt. Every dollar would not necessarily stay local, but the first decision would belong to the household.

For workers in remote communities, that relief would not require waiting for a new industrial announcement or leaving home.

Protect people. Demand better government.

Families already owing little or no state income tax receive little direct benefit from eliminating that bill. Refundable credits can matter more. Hull proposes preserving eligible credit and rebate formulas and funding their delivery. That protection is essential.

Nor should we deny progress. New Mexico’s official poverty rate fell from 17.2% to 16% between overlapping three-year estimates. That measure excludes tax credits and noncash benefits such as SNAP and Medicaid; the decline cannot simply be dismissed as rebate accounting. It also does not establish what caused the improvement.

But accountability should include limits on how much money government controls.

Democratic leadership cannot keep pointing to bigger budgets as proof of success while asking families to overlook disappointing outcomes. A responsibly financed phaseout would leave more earnings with residents—and less for lawmakers to allocate.

That is not abandoning public services. It is challenging the assumption that Santa Fe’s next spending priority matters more than a household’s next bill.

New Mexico reported nearly $23.9 billion in expenditures through its core public-school funding program over FY2019–FY2025. Annual spending through that program rose roughly 60%, before inflation. This excludes other education funding streams.

Yet the 2026 KIDS COUNT report ranks New Mexico last in its education domain for the tenth consecutive year. The ranking combines preschool participation, fourth-grade reading, eighth-grade math, and on-time graduation.

Nobody votes for last place. Nobody approves billion-dollar budgets hoping to preserve it.

Democrats have controlled the governorship and both legislative chambers throughout Michelle Lujan Grisham’s tenure. They cannot claim credit for budgets while disclaiming responsibility for outcomes.

That does not make every expenditure wasteful. It makes better results an obligation.

Administrative mistakes have a price

A May 2024 federal audit identified approximately $168.7 million in Medicaid managed-care overpayments and recommended recovery, including approximately $119.1 million owed back to Washington. The audited payments occurred in 2014–2018, before MLG took office.

The subsequent response deserves scrutiny. August 2025 reporting described a proposed approach using state resources for the federal repayment rather than recovering overpayments from insurers. That reporting does not establish the final disposition. Taxpayers deserve to know what was recovered and who absorbed any loss.

SNAP presents another risk: approximately $150 million annually in potential state benefit-sharing costs if payment errors are not reduced sufficiently under federal rules. This is exposure, not an expense already incurred. Errors are not automatically fraud.

These are arguments for competent administration—not against feeding families or providing care.

Bold leadership needs sound financing

The central question remains recurring revenue.

Personal income taxes were projected to generate approximately $2.25 billion in the current fiscal year. Hull would retain taxation of business profits, so the proposal’s precise revenue reduction requires a separate estimate.

His fiscal safeguards and rejection of replacement tax increases, reserve financing, speculative growth, unspecified savings, and extraordinary permanent-fund withdrawals are meaningful constraints—not a completed financing plan.

Before each step, residents should see how recurring resources will support teachers, public safety, health care, and refundable credits.

That scrutiny does not diminish Hull’s leadership. It is the work necessary to turn a gutsy proposal into durable policy.

Hull is asking New Mexico to imagine something beyond the next spending increase: stronger household finances and a government required to justify what it keeps.

The financing must earn public confidence. The ambition already deserves a serious hearing.

Let families keep more. Make Santa Fe deliver more.