New Mexico Court Kicks Tax Break Dispute Back to Trial Judge

A New Mexico trial judge should have ruled on the constitutionality of a property tax exemption before certifying the issue to a higher court, the state appeals court ruled Thursday.

“The constitutional question was certified to this Court without any decision having been made in the first instance by the Board or the district court, suggesting an invocation of original jurisdiction we simply do not have,” New Mexico Court of Appeals Judge Katherine A. Wray wrote. That means the trial judge must take another look at the Bernalillo County assessor’s arguments that exemptions under the Hospital Equipment Loan Act ...