New Mexico
Celebrating a tax win for New Mexico’s kids and families
As mamas, we know that having kids changes how you see the world. Figuring out how to keep your little ones safe and healthy, so they can grow up to thrive, is a worry that doesn’t go away. Finding access to high-quality care for our children has felt nearly impossible, and for too many, affording that care truly is impossible. Yet parents across New Mexico deserve peace of mind, and all our kids deserve a bright start in life.
In the recent legislative session, we just made that a little easier. After nearly six years of advocacy, we exempted the Gross Receipts Tax (GRT) on childcare, for those eligible for state childcare assistance contracts and state Pre-K services.This small but important change to our state’s tax code is a win for New Mexico’s families.
Typically, businesses pass GRT down to their consumers. Yet many childcare providers have been shouldering the cost of this tax because the families they serve simply couldn’t afford it. The GRT has been a significant operating expense, particularly for those serving our most in-need communities. For many providers, this expense has limited their ability to recruit and retain staff or purchase classroom supplies. Other providers have had to pass this tax on to families who are already struggling to make ends meet.
By creating opportunities for parents to pursue further education or participate in the workforce and support their families, childcare providers play a critical role in our economy. A vast and still growing body of research also shows that childcare providers play a pivotal role in children’s development and wellbeing—with kids who get quality early childhood care having better outcomes throughout their entire lives.
But it’s also important that we support and trust the people who provide the childcare that we all depend upon. Many of those caring for our kids and helping to power our economy are women of color and unfortunately, all too often these voices are excluded from the spaces where policy decisions are made.
Our capital can be a challenging place to navigate, especially for newcomers to state politics. Not everyone in Santa Fe was ready to shift tax policy on the insight shared by childcare educators who own these small businesses. For decades, too many well-intentioned policy makers have been comfortable assuming they know best for New Mexicans. But representation and perspective matters, so we kept showing-up, asking for meetings, and creating spaces for parents to speak for themselves.
Year after year, as New Mexicans elected more lawmakers who reflect the diversity of our state, we built more bipartisan support for eliminating this GRT. Pragmatic legislators holding new leadership, including Indigenous people, women of color, and working parents themselves were listening and trusted our knowledge of the issues impacting the communities we come from.
Given how essential childcare is to the wellbeing of our communities as a whole, we are incredibly proud that New Mexico is becoming a leader in early childhood care and education. We can do right by New Mexicans when we center the expertise of everyday leaders that hold our most challenging issues close to heart. Now with this tax reform, alongside other initiatives to bring our values closer to reality, high-quality childcare will be within reach for more kids and families that need it.
Representative Lara Cadena is Vice Chair of the House Taxation and Revenue Committee. Angela Garcia is the Owner of The Toy Box Early Learning Child Care Centers in Las Cruces and Co-Founder of Full Circle Children, Family, and Educator Services.
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Country Music Hall of Fame inductee Tanya Tucker will perform at the 2026 New Mexico State Fair, officials announced Tuesday.
Tucker will take to the stage Friday, Sept. 18, after the Chevron PRCA rodeo. The Grammy Award-winning icon has racked up 10 No. 1 country hits since her first hit, “Delta Dawn,” at age 13.
“We couldn’t be more thrilled to bring the legendary Tanya Tucker to the New Mexico State Fair,” said Dan Mourning, general manager of the New Mexico State Fair. “Tanya is one of the greatest icons in country music history and is the perfect fit for the Fair.”
Tucker has 23 Top-40 albums and 56 Top 40 singles on the Billboard country music charts. She has won two Country Music Association awards, two Academy of Country Music awards, three CMT Awards and two Grammys for Best Country Album and Best Country Song.
Tickets are set to go on sale on Friday at 10 a.m.
Here is the full 2026 New Mexico State Fair rodeo-concert lineup:
Friday, Sept. 11
Turnpike Troubadours with Chevron PRCA Xtreme Bulls
Saturday, Sept. 12
Ian Munsick with Chevron PRCA Xtreme Bulls
Wednesday, Sept. 16
Chevron PRCA Standalone Rodeo
Thursday, Sept. 17
Everclear with Chevron PRCA Rodeo
Friday, Sept. 18
Tanya Tucker with Chevron PRCA Rodeo
Saturday, Sept. 19
The Warning with Chevron PRCA Rodeo
Sunday, Sept. 20
Chevron PRCA Rodeo – Matinee
SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — State investigators began searching a secluded ranch in New Mexico on Monday where financier and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein once entertained guests amid allegations that the property may have been used for sexual abuse and sex trafficking of young women.
The office of state Attorney General Raúl Torrez announced that the search was being done with the cooperation of the current ranch owners.
Torrez last month reopened an investigation of the ranch. New Mexico’s initial case was closed in 2019 at the request of federal prosecutors in New York, and state prosecutors say now that “revelations outlined in the previously sealed FBI files warrant further examination.”
Epstein purchased the sprawling Zorro Ranch in Stanley, New Mexico, about 30 miles (48 kilometers) south of Santa Fe, in 1993 from former Democratic Gov. Bruce King and built a hilltop mansion with a private runway.
The property was sold by Epstein’s estate in 2023 — with proceeds going toward creditors — to the family of Don Huffines, a candidate in Texas for state comptroller who won the Republican primary last week.
“The New Mexico Department of Justice appreciates the cooperation of the current property owners,” the agency said in a statement. Prosecutors “will continue to keep the public appropriately informed, support the survivors, and follow the facts wherever they lead.”
Additionally, New Mexico state legislators have established a new commission to look into past activities at the ranch.
Epstein killed himself in a Manhattan jail while awaiting trial in 2019 on charges that he sexually abused and trafficked dozens of underage girls.
Epstein never faced charges in New Mexico, but the state attorney general’s office in 2019 confirmed that it had interviewed possible victims who visited Epstein’s ranch.
Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
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