02/12/2008
CONTACT: Karin Foster, 505-238-8385 or Tony Malandra, 415-664-9685
Big opposition to increasing gas tax, publicly financing campaigns also found
SANTA FE, N.M. -- New Mexico small-business owners want no part of a so-called "Fair Share" health care program, according to a poll released today by their leading representative group, the National Federation of Independent Business.
Unique among most organizations, NFIB centers its state and federal lobbying positions on what its members tell it -- through annual polls -- are vital to their survival as entrepreneurs. When asked if New Mexico should require employers with more than six employees to provide health care or pay that same amount into a government 'fair share' program, 93 percent of NFIB-member, small-business owners said 'No,' 4 percent supported the idea, and 3 percent were either undecided or did not respond.
"No one has to lecture or educate small business about health care," said Karin Foster, NFIB/New Mexico state director. "For 24 consecutive years, it has ranked as the top issue in polls and surveys conducted by NFIB, and the last time it was by its widest margin ever over the second worry. Small-business owners desperately want to provide health care for their employees and -- what is frequently forgotten here -- for themselves as well. But the cost of health insurance premiums make it almost impossible, which is why less than half of American small-business owners can afford it. NFIB and others have proposed ideas for addressing this national crisis, and they do not include putting a gun to a small-business owner's head and saying 'pay up or else.' "
When asked if they would support raising the gas tax to pay for transportation infrastructure improvements, 88 percent of respondents said, 'No,' 10 percent support a hike, and 2 percent were undecided. Small-business owners were also in no mood to finance political campaigns as part of an overall ethics package, Seventy-three percent though it a bad idea, 17 percent said 'Yes' to it, and 10 percent were either undecided or did not respond.
Rounding out the four-question poll, 69 percent of NFIB-member, small-business owners supports a constitutional amendment limiting state spending. Twenty-two percent were opposed to the idea, and 9 percent were undecided.
NOTE TO EDITORS AND REPORTERS: This poll was taken before NFIB/New Mexico and others succeeded in winning removal of employer-mandated pay and employer-reporting provisions in a health care bill now languishing in the Senate. Because all health care bills are essentially dead for this session, talk of a special session is currently rumored in the Roundhouse.
