New Mexico lawmakers are taking another shot at overhauling the state’s alcohol taxes, replacing fixed per-liter taxes with a 6% tax collected at the wholesale level, KRQE reports. The state’s alcohol-related death rate has remained nearly twice the national average for most of the past 20 years.
Sen. Shannon Pinto, D-McKinley County, told a legislative committee that supporters had discussed a 3% tax on the sale price of alcohol but moved instead to a 6% tax on the wholesale cost. She said lawmakers are developing the proposal with the Taxation and Revenue Department. Wholesalers would likely pass at least some of the added cost on to retailers and, ultimately, consumers.
Pinto said the plan would direct all alcohol tax revenue to alcohol-related services instead of splitting it with the general fund, because the needs are great. Lawmakers say services that have relied on disappearing federal money could face cuts without a new state revenue source. New Mexico’s alcohol-related death rate has ranked first, second or third in the nation since 1981, KRQE reports.
The state already taxes cannabis at 14%, a rate scheduled to rise by one percentage point each year through 2030, and also taxes cigarettes and vaping products. Lawmakers last revamped the alcohol tax system in 1993, and several attempts since then have failed.
About This Story
Daily Reports is Brant.One’s news roundup. Each day we gather the New Mexico stories worth knowing from newsrooms across the state, sum them up and point you to the source. This one comes from KRQE’s reporting, and their original story has the interviews and full details.
Editor’s note: Updated Oct. 31, 2026. This story is now part of Daily Reports, our New Mexico news roundup, and was revised to credit KRQE’s original reporting. Learn how Daily Reports works in our editorial standards.
