GUEST COLUMN
OPINION: NM is holding $390 million of its residents’ money. The next governor should give it back
Deb Haaland and Gregg Hull emerged from New Mexico’s June primary with competing visions for the state.
Haaland, the Democratic nominee, is emphasizing affordability, education, health care and economic opportunity. Hull, the Republican nominee, argues that New Mexico families are struggling under the policies of the current state government.
Here is one issue they should both be able to agree on: New Mexico should do a much better job returning money that already belongs to its residents.
The New Mexico Taxation and Revenue Department reported in November that it was holding approximately $390 million in unclaimed property. That money can include forgotten bank accounts, uncashed payroll checks, insurance proceeds, utility deposits, stocks, refunds and other financial assets turned over by businesses after they lose contact with the owner.
Individual claims average about $500. As of the department’s November announcement, it had paid 6,414 claims totaling $18.5 million during 2025.
Returning $18.5 million is worthwhile.
Holding $390 million is the bigger story.
As Haaland and Hull campaign for governor ahead of the general election, each should be asked a simple question: What will you do to return substantially more of this money?
This is especially relevant in New Mexico because the unclaimed-property program is administered by the same department that collects state taxes and processes tax returns.
The Taxation and Revenue Department has residents’ names, addresses, Social Security numbers, tax filings and other identifying information. It also possesses a database of people whose money has been reported as abandoned.
Yet the basic system still depends heavily on residents discovering the program, searching a separate database, finding a possible match, creating an account and filing a claim. The state’s instructions tell residents to search its portal or MissingMoney.com and submit documentation if they locate property that may belong to them.
That approach puts the burden backward.
When New Mexicans owe taxes, the state does not sit quietly and hope they eventually search a website. It uses the information it has to locate them.
When the state owes New Mexicans money, residents are expected to become detectives.
New Mexico has already shown that it can distribute money automatically.
In 2023, the Taxation and Revenue Department sent rebates of $500 to individual filers and $1,000 to married couples filing jointly. Eligible taxpayers did not have to submit a separate application. The state used tax-return information to identify them and send the payments automatically.
The same basic principle should apply to straightforward unclaimed-property claims.
When the name, address and taxpayer information attached to a property record clearly match a current state tax record, the department should contact the owner directly. For smaller claims with a high-confidence match, it should be able to send the money automatically or provide a simplified confirmation process.
Not every claim can work that way.
Claims involving deceased owners, businesses, trusts, disputed ownership, securities or incomplete records may require additional proof. Identity theft and fraud are real concerns. No one is suggesting that the state mail checks merely because two people share the same name.
But those complications are not an excuse for treating every claim as equally difficult.
New Mexico should separate simple claims from complicated ones.
A $75 utility refund connected to the same name, address and taxpayer identification information found in a recent state filing should not require the same process as a stock portfolio belonging to a person who died 20 years ago.
The state should also begin measuring success differently.
The department promotes the amount it returns, but New Mexicans also deserve to know how much new property arrives each year, how much remains outstanding, how long claims take, how many are rejected and how much is returned without owners having to initiate a search.
Most importantly, the state should disclose whether its unclaimed-property holdings are growing faster than its returns.
The department openly states that unclaimed funds are used by New Mexico’s General Fund until owners claim them.
That creates an obvious conflict.
The state has a legal responsibility to safeguard the money for its owners. At the same time, state government benefits from having continued access to money that has not been returned.
That does not mean officials are deliberately blocking claims. It does mean the system needs stronger incentives, clearer public reporting and independent scrutiny.
The next governor should propose legislation requiring the Taxation and Revenue to perform regular data matches, directly notify likely owners and automatically return qualifying low-dollar claims.
The department should also be required to publish an annual report showing the total amount held, new property received, claims paid, average processing time, automatic returns and funds transferred for General Fund use.
New Mexico began a new fiscal year on July 1 with an $11.1 billion General Fund budget. The spending plan includes major investments in universal childcare, higher education, housing, roads and economic development.
Those priorities matter.
But so does the $390 million the state is already holding for people who may need help paying rent, buying groceries, covering medical bills or repairing a car.
Haaland and Hull will spend the next several months explaining how they plan to make New Mexico more affordable.
They should begin with a commitment that costs taxpayers very little: Use the information the state already possesses to identify the owners of unclaimed money, contact them and return far more of it automatically.
New Mexico should not measure success by how many residents eventually find the state’s lost-and-found website.
It should measure success by how empty that lost-and-found becomes.
Mark Lewyn is the founder of UnclaimedMoneyGuy.com, a consumer guide about the topic of unclaimed money.