Today, the New Mexico Senate passed HB 255 after removing a measure increasing the sales tax rate on beverage alcohol by two percentage points which would have resulted in higher prices and a reduction in jobs.
The bill now moves to the House for concurrence.
“We are grateful the Senate recognized how harmful an increase in alcohol taxes would have been for New Mexico’s hospitality businesses, consumers and workers,” said Kristi Brown, Distilled Spirits Council of the United States Senior Director of State Government Relations. “Increasing taxes on responsible spirits consumers and businesses in the middle of a pandemic would have further devastated New Mexico’s hospitality industry which has already lost 29,000 jobs because of COVID-19. We applaud the Senate for removing this job-crushing tax.”
According to a tax impact analysis by the chief economist for the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States, the original tax proposal would have resulted in more than 250 jobs lost and a reduction in retail alcohol sales of more than $17 million for New Mexico’s businesses.