New Los Alamos lab manager Triad will pay GRT, official says
By Andy Stiny | astiny@sfnewmexican.com Aug 22, 2018
A representative of Triad National Security LLC, which takes over management of Los Alamos National Laboratory in November, said Wednesday the consortium will pay gross receipts taxes, easing concerns of local officials about losing millions of dollars in revenue.
Scott Sudduth, assistant vice chancellor with the Office of Federal Relations for the Texas A&M University system, told an audience of about 50 community members during a meeting in Los Alamos that the New Mexico Taxation and Revenue Department responded to a recent inquiry from Triad by saying that “it is their view that the gross receipts tax does apply to Triad.”
Los Alamos County officials had said previously that if Triad were deemed to have nonprofit status, the county estimated it could lose $21 million annually and the state $23 million in gross receipts tax revenues, according to published reports.
Nonprofits generally are exempt from the tax on most business transactions, a major source of revenue that the state collects and shares with local governments where the transactions take place.
Triad is led by the Texas A&M system, the University of California and the Battelle Memorial Institute, all nonprofits.
“I know how important tax issues are to the community,” Sudduth told the audience.
Sudduth said Triad will begin paying the tax as of Nov. 1, and he said the letter from state revenue officials was shared with the National Nuclear Security Administration.
“We are encouraged by that,” said David Izraelevitz, who chairs the Los Alamos County Council. “The issue of gross receipts taxes has been one of intense attention by us.”
Gary Falle of the Office of the President of the University of California confirmed during a break in Wednesday’s session that Sudduth had informed him of the gross receipts tax decision, but he said he did not have a copy of the letter and was not authorized to speak with the news media.
Various Triad representatives said the Los Alamos meeting was called to hear community concerns and develop a community commitment plan.
“We want to hear what issues are important to the community,” Frances Chadwick, staff director for Triad, told the gathering at Fuller Lodge.
Triad late last year was awarded a multibillion-dollar contract by the National Nuclear Security Administration to run the nuclear weapons research facility for the U.S. Department of Energy, replacing contractor Los Alamos National Security LLC in overseeing a major economic engine for the region.
http://www.santafenewmexican.com/news/local_news/new-los-alamos-lab-manager-triad-will-pay-grt-official/article_433e4fcb-a711-530f-a3f0-1a3d65486a42.html
21 comments:
This is a terrible decision for the nation. Also, hopefully the reports that Texas A&M was the lead lobbyist in Triad for this extravagant waste of money are not a harbinger of future behavior. LANL needs to exist for the nation, not the local community politicians and the lobbyists that support them.
Now we know why Triad will reduce the number of Holidays and reduce other benefits for its employees. Reduction in LANL benefits will be used to pay for the Los Alamos Gross Receipts Tax (GRT).
Can anyone weigh in (with facts, not slander or rumor) on whether DOE/NNSA will cover the GRT costs under the contract?
Now we know why Triad will reduce the number of Holidays and reduce other benefits for its employees. Reduction in LANL benefits will be used to pay for the Los Alamos Gross Receipts Tax (GRT).
August 24, 2018 at 6:38 AM
No, reduction of Holidays and benefits was mandated as punishment by spiteful, jealous Feds at DOE.
Can anyone weigh in (with facts, not slander or rumor) on whether DOE/NNSA will cover the GRT costs under the contract?
August 24, 2018 at 6:21 PM
One fact would be that if Triad was really interested in the outcome, then they could fight this self-serving decision from the NM politicians. In the absence of a fight, it will be obvious that Triad just doesn't care about it one way or the other. They were hired to run LANL for the country, not to be best friends with the local politicians.
GRT = fewer jobs at LANL
August 25, 2018 at 11:21 AM
Sorry, your answer was not a fact, just a rant full of opinion. Do you know the difference? Apparently very few people do these days.
August 26, 2018 at 7:08 AM
Again, not a fact, just an opinion unsupported by evidence.
Fewer jobs at LANL = fewer jobs in surrounding communities
"Fewer jobs at LANL = fewer jobs in surrounding communities
August 26, 2018 at 5:41 PM"
False, the money moved away from the GRT will employ people from the surrounding communities, most likely people born in New Mexico. It just means less of those LANL jobs but more of other community service jobs. Which jobs do think help humanity more?
Again, not a fact, just an opinion unsupported by evidence.
August 26, 2018 at 5:27 PM
It is just you opinion that it is not a fact. Do you have any evidence it is not a fact? You destroyed your own argument.
It is just you opinion that it is not a fact. Do you have any evidence it is not a fact? You destroyed your own argument.
August 26, 2018 at 10:19 PM
It was stated as a fact, but with no supporting evidence. Therefore, it is not a fact, until evidence is presented that others can verify as factual. Your argument is "destroyed" by your inability to write a post using correct grammar and spelling.
GRT = fewer jobs at LANL
Again, not a fact, just an opinion unsupported by evidence.
August 26, 2018 at 5:27 PM
Not so good at math, are you? Flunked arithmetic in New Mexico schools, did you? Just an opinion, but supported by the evidence that you did not understand, nor could you do the 5th grade arithmetic that proves the fact.
Not so good at math, are you? Flunked arithmetic in New Mexico schools, did you? Just an opinion, but supported by the evidence that you did not understand, nor could you do the 5th grade arithmetic that proves the fact.
August 27, 2018 at 6:35 PM
Only an arrogant scientist would say such a thing. Maybe GRT would mean more jobs at LANL, did that ever occur to you? Do you "evidence" for the contrary. By the way math does not always give you the right answer nor even describes the world. I know people with only a 5th grade eduction that are smarter than most PHDS. How about this arrogant people should get less money.
9:57: what will help humanity more? Employing local New Mexicans with service jobs making minimum wage or LANL high tech jobs, making good salaries with benefits? One will keep you at a working poverty level, the other provides a decent standard of living. Your choice.
August 28, 2018 at 6:33 AM
Again, not a fact, just an opinion unsupported by evidence.
I think the evidence supporting August 28, 2018 at 6:33 AM's argument is self-evident. LANL-based jobs in northern NM are obviously much preferable to any other choices, absent LANL. However, they require the residents of the valley and other places outside Los Alamos to recognize the opportunity presented, and to appreciate the value of some sort of higher education in vocational school, college, or community college, in preparation for taking advantage of those opportunities. That recognition is admittedly a hard sell in some of the poorer, more insular communities in northern NM, where offspring staying at home, often in the same family home, to take care of the older generations, is culturally expected. Often, English is not spoken in those homes, some 400+ years after settlement by Spanish remnants of the conquistador armies.
August 28, 2018 at 5:44 PM
Again, not a fact, just an opinion unsupported by evidence.
August 28, 2018 at 7:56 PM
Again, not a fact, just an opinion unsupported by evidence.
"Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not his own facts." - Daniel Patrick Moynihan. Just because you are unable to recognize a fact out of ignorance, that does not make it an "opinion."
Fact- full-time minimum wage job in NM is $7.50/hr, $300 a week, $15,600 a year. Fact- <20K a year is considered working poor in the U.S. Fact, entry-level technician jobs at LANL with a high school education ~45K, with full bennies. With an associates degree, 50-55K a year. Which one is better to lift NNM out of poverty?
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