Residents in One State to Get $1,000 Checks Because of Oil Prices

Residents in New Mexico are expected to soon receive rebate checks of up to $1,000 after high oil prices in the state led to a surplus in the budgeted spending.

In April, New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham announced that rebate checks would be sent out in mid-June to taxpayers, "putting more than $673 million back into the pockets of New Mexicans."

Single filers in the state will receive rebate checks of $500 while "married taxpayers filing jointly, heads of household and surviving spouses," are expected to receive $1,000 rebate checks.

The announcement comes after increased oil prices and oil output in New Mexico have created a surplus in the state's budget. New Mexico had an estimated over-budgeted surplus spending of $3.6 billion for the upcoming year, according to the Associated Press.

"Prices for basic necessities continue to be high across the nation...Our state today is in a fantastic financial position, and it's important to me that New Mexico's families are sharing in that success," Lujan Grisham said in a statement in April.

The announcement from the governor's office said taxpayers in the state who filed a 2021 tax return will receive the rebate checks via direct deposit or by mail, depending on how they received their previous tax return. Taxpayers are not required to file any sort of application to receive the rebate checks.

"Our staff is already hard at work preparing this next round of rebates, which we know New Mexicans are eager to get," New Mexico Taxation and Revenue Department Secretary Stephanie Schardin Clarke said in April.

A spokesperson for the New Mexico Department of Taxation and Revenue told Newsweek that the rebate checks are expected to be sent out in the final two weeks of June.

In May, Reuters reported that New Mexico saw the largest increase in crude oil production than any other state. Crude oil production in New Mexico accounted for 50 percent of the total gain in the United States. New Mexico increased its production of crude oil by 30,000 barrels per day in 2022, to a total of 1.6 million barrels per day.

"New Mexico is like the new frontier, and there's a lot of upside potential," Phil Flynn, an energy analyst at Price Futures Group told Reuters. "Some people argue that some of (Texas's) best wells have been drilled."

Minnesota also recently announced rebate checks after Governor Tim Walz signed new legislation last month.

The Minnesota Department of Revenue stated that married joint filers with an income of $150,000 or less will receive rebate checks of $520. All other filers with an adjusted gross income of $75,000 or less will receive $260 rebate checks.