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The new data is out for November. New Mexico now is #50. It has the worst unemployment rate in the entire nation. Wow. That is bad. It even moved ahead og coal dependant West VA.
The new data is out for November. New Mexico now is #50.
Bad results for the state indeed, but before the doomsayers get too excited, please note the second to last paragraph (!) in today's Albuquerque Journal on this topic:
"One bright spot in the state’s economic picture was the Albuquerque area, where employment grew by 1.9 percent over the year, adding 7,200 jobs."
Location: In a perfect world winter does not exist
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Numbers cannot tell how a place feels to live in. I'm in Seattle, there are more stores with marked " EBT accepted" than ever. Tent cities for the homeless are everywhere near Downtown Seattle, the freeways and near Chinatown. I've been here since 82 and never seen so many panhandlers as now. And we are suppose have one of the strongest job markets in the states.
Numbers cannot tell how a place feels to live in. I'm in Seattle, there are more stores with marked " EBT accepted" than ever. Tent cities for the homeless are everywhere near Downtown Seattle, the freeways and near Chinatown. I've been here since 82 and never seen so many panhandlers as now. And we are suppose have one of the strongest job markets in the states.
Strong job market, as long as you've got the right credentials or education any way.
I've been living and doing the same exact job out here in eastern NM for a little over three years now.
Not a whole lot of upward mobility in my line of work, and there really isn't a whole lot of places to take it either.
Only thing I could think of doing in regards to my aspirations of getting out of it is by continually looking to whatever position I could take out of state in regards to where I could get better training for whatever it is I want to do for later on.
It's definitely been "an experience" living out here for the time I have.
But coming to grip with the fact that I'm still feeling like a stranger in a strange land, these numbers don't really seem to help my cause much in wanting to stick around any longer.
Many seem to be pushing the whole idea of being like everyone else and heading towards TX next door.
But I'm more intent on jumping back west to either CA or AZ where the territory and land lay-out are much more familiar to me.
I think a start to jump start the economy in this state would be to eliminate the gross receipts tax. As it stands, some areas of the state businesses are saddled with an 8.6% rate. That's obscenely high. One must understand how odious this tax is in a business environment because it impacts every single transaction between not just businesses to buyers, but between businesses as well. It's akin to a value added tax, and has no real business standing in a 21 century economy.
I think a start to jump start the economy in this state would be to eliminate the gross receipts tax. As it stands, some areas of the state businesses are saddled with an 8.6% rate.
The reason it's at 8.6 in Taos Ski Valley vs. say, 5.125, is all local. Albuquerque is a mathematically convenient 7.1875%.
A purchase from a number of mail-order houses (eBay, etc.), on the other hand, ends up being about 0%, given lax enforcement from the state.
There's also the annual school tax holiday where clothing and computers can be had at 0%.
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That's obscenely high.
Relatively, it's not. Arizona tends to be about 2% higher, Colorado maxes out at 10%, and even tax paradise Texas starts out at 6.25% (Dallas comes in at 8.25%).
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One must understand how odious this tax is in a business environment because it impacts every single transaction between not just businesses to buyers, but between businesses as well.
That's simply not true. Unless the business is an end user, GRT exemptions eliminate that VAT shortcoming. Most serious business owners use GRT exemption forms where applicable.
This is great news. Now more people will leave the state, driving the unemployment rate down.
That seems to be the state leaders' plan of action. The census news came out showing that folks are still leaving -- a net decrease in 2015. That, coupled with the unemployment news would, in any other state, sound alarm bells for the state leaders. In NM, not so much. I moved here two years ago and have to say I have been most disappointed in the state level government leaders. They are not "whack jobs" like in many states -- you hardly know they are there. They are do-nothing occupiers of their positions.
Beside the number of people leaving the state, the land of Enchantment's suicide rate is 20.3 -- way above the national average at 12.6 (2013).
A large part of the state economy is driven by Federal money and the cut-backs and sequester efforts on the Federal level hit NM very hard. I don't see any real state-level effort to fill the gap left by decreased Federal dollars.
The reason it's at 8.6 in Taos Ski Valley vs. say, 5.125, is all local. Albuquerque is a mathematically convenient 7.1875%.
A purchase from a number of mail-order houses (eBay, etc.), on the other hand, ends up being about 0%, given lax enforcement from the state.
There's also the annual school tax holiday where clothing and computers can be had at 0%.
Relatively, it's not. Arizona tends to be about 2% higher, Colorado maxes out at 10%, and even tax paradise Texas starts out at 6.25% (Dallas comes in at 8.25%).
That's simply not true. Unless the business is an end user, GRT exemptions eliminate that VAT shortcoming. Most serious business owners use GRT exemption forms where applicable.
There are only limited GRT exemptions for businesses that require services from other businesses. (Services for resale, service performed on a manufactured product).
If you wish to hire an accountant you will pay a large tax. Only a few other states charge a similar tax for accounting services.
The New Mexico GRT applies to any other services a business needs to get. Most other states either don't apply sales tax to services or have a much lower tax rate than our GRT. The lower taxes on services could be combined with no income tax, such as Washington State.
It's not just accounting. Graphic design, web design, legal services, other business support services are the same. Various states might have somewhat different rules, but New Mexico definitely taxes business support services to a greater extent than most if not all states and most of the service taxes are not exempt from GRT.
Numbers cannot tell how a place feels to live in. I'm in Seattle, there are more stores with marked " EBT accepted" than ever. Tent cities for the homeless are everywhere near Downtown Seattle, the freeways and near Chinatown. I've been here since 82 and never seen so many panhandlers as now. And we are suppose have one of the strongest job markets in the states.
I live in Seattle and the main problem area for homeless is around Pioneer Square (City Hall Park and 3rd and Yessler). They all gather there becuase of a free food program. The rest of Seattle is not bad at all. "Tent cities for the homeless are everywhere near Downtown Seattle" is a total exaggeration and not true at all. Seattle as a city is absolutely booming.
If you can't find a job in Seattle you have a serious problem & need to update your skill set in a major way. It has about a 3.5% unemployment rate and I see "Now Hiring" signs it seems on every other business now. Most of the homeless are alcoholic or drug addicted bums & felons that don't want to work. I lived in SF Bay for almost 20 years before Seattle and San Fran always had a massive nasty homeless problem despite the powerful job engine there. Mostly just mentally unstable drug addicted or alcoholics or felons that didn't want to work or couldn't work due to mental issues or drug issues. Seattle and SF both have extremely high and continually escalating rents and super tight rental markets with record low vacancies that are also putting people in the margins out on the street.
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