近距离内射合集

In New Mexico, a gross receipts tax is a key revenue source. But for local commercial real estate developers, it is becoming an increasingly costly burden of doing business in the state.

That was a prominent finding from a poll distributed by the Commercial Real Estate Development Association 鈥� or CREDA, formerly NAIOP 鈥� last month. The association鈥檚 New Mexico chapter, founded in 1986, represents more than 290 developers, owners, investors and industry professionals across the state.

The poll was the latest in a series that CREDA will regularly release to its members in partnership with the Journal through the association鈥檚 luncheons and newsletters.

In the August poll, members were asked to rate the current deal velocity in their segment of commercial real estate 鈥� with 1 being cold and 10 being hot. The majority of 62 respondents selected a rating of 6 鈥� unchanged from the most-selected rating in July鈥檚 poll and down from higher ratings of 7 and 8 earlier this year.

鈥淚鈥檝e been thinking a lot of it has to do with just the overall economy,鈥� said CREDA New Mexico President Prakash Sundaram. 鈥淚nterest rates are still a little bit higher than what we鈥檙e used to, and now, with the latest inflation numbers, there鈥檚 some fear of the Fed raising rates again.鈥�

Locally, Sundaram said the time it takes for governments to approve projects is also a factor slowing deal activity. He added that CREDA is continuously partnering with municipalities to work on it.

The poll also asked real estate leaders if New Mexico鈥檚 gross receipts tax, or GRT, makes doing business in the state more difficult. GRT is a tax that the state and its counties and municipalities impose on businesses and the total amount of money or value they receive for their services.

The majority 鈥� 93% 鈥� said the state鈥檚 GRT makes business harder, with 60% saying it makes business 鈥渟ignificantly鈥� more difficult. Meanwhile, less than 10% said they weren鈥檛 sure or felt the tax is reasonable or has little to no impact.

In the majority is Lance Sigmon, principal and co-owner of the local commercial real estate investment and development company Allen Sigmon Real Estate Group.

Based in New Mexico, Sigmon鈥檚 company also does business in Arizona and Colorado, which do not have a GRT. He said his multistate ventures have given him a clear picture of the impact GRT has on commercial real estate, particularly for new construction.

He gave the example of two similar hotel projects that Allen Sigmon developed in Denver and Albuquerque around the same period last year. Without GRT, Sigmon said the Denver hotel cost his company $4 million less than the Albuquerque hotel.

鈥淭he fact that New Mexico taxes construction projects and our neighbors immediately around us don't makes us absolutely less competitive,鈥� Sigmon said.

Mackenzie Bishop, co-owner of local homebuilder Abrazo Homes, agreed. He said GRT has always been tough for the construction industry 鈥� but because of increased costs of labor, materials and borrowing, it has become an increasingly heavy burden.

鈥淲hen things get tight, our disadvantages become more profound, and GRT is probably one of our most profound disadvantages as a state,鈥� Bishop said.

Both Bishop and Sigmon said while they would like to see GRT scrapped and traded for a traditional sales tax 鈥� which adds an extra percentage customers pay for a good or service 鈥� they recognize that altering the state鈥檚 tax code in such a way would be a heavy undertaking.

鈥淚 understand that we can鈥檛 wave a wand and just do big dramatic shifts. What I would ideally like to see happen is phasing the gross receipts tax out, with the first phase being new construction,鈥� Sigmon said.

Bishop agreed that targeted reform for sectors 鈥渇eeling the most acute pain right now鈥� is more realistic. He said he would also support making the state competitive in other ways, such as offsetting the GRT burden with lower or no personal or corporate income tax.

Bishop said he thinks legislative action on GRT is 鈥渃rucial to the future of our state鈥� and 鈥渃an immediately move the needle鈥� for business in New Mexico.

Such reforms, Bishop and Sigmon said, would create savings for businesses and customers and potentially result in more projects choosing to come to the state and could also offset the loss of government revenue.

鈥淭here鈥檚 a multiplier effect on those new projects,鈥� Sigmon said. 鈥淎ll the payroll taxes that come in, all the construction workers that pay income tax that come in 鈥� there鈥檚 still going to be taxes generated from that. Just because you got rid of gross receipts tax doesn鈥檛 mean you don鈥檛 get any taxes. But all of a sudden, you get a project that you wouldn鈥檛 have had otherwise.鈥�

Kylie Garcia covers retail and real estate for the Journal. You can reach her at kgarcia@abqjournal.com.