NEW MEXICO – Oil and gas contributed more to the State of New Mexico’s budget this year than ever before, and almost half went to schools across the state.
In fiscal year 2018, state revenue from the taxes and contributions paid by industry contributed about US$2.2 billion to the State’s General Fund, about 32% of the total General Fund of about US$6.8 billion, per data released by the New Mexico Oil and Gas Association (NMOGA).
That marked an about US$465 million increase from last year’s contribution of about US$1.7 billion or about 30% of fiscal year 2017’s total of US$5.8 billion.
But oil and gas has always paid into at least 30% of the New Mexico’s General Fund, dating back to fiscal year 2010, when the US$5.1 billion general fund was augmented by about US$1.7 billion or 35% in contributions from the industry.
The only year since that oil and gas contributed less than 30% was in fiscal year 2016 when the industry paid in 28% of the General Fund, or US$1.6 billion of the US$5.8 billion total.
Source: Currentargus