Santa Fe Tax Rates: GRT, Property, Lodgers, and Cannabis

Santa Fe tax rates stack in layers. The combined gross receipts tax is 8.1875 percent on most purchases and services.¹²³⁴

The 8.1875 Percent Gross Receipts Tax

New Mexico does not have a traditional sales tax. It imposes a gross receipts tax on businesses for the privilege of doing business in the state.⁵ The tax covers what a business receives from selling goods, performing services, or leasing property. The business owes the tax, but nearly every business passes it through as a line item, so from a buyer’s seat it feels like a sales tax.⁶

The practical difference is reach. Because the tax runs on gross receipts rather than retail sales, it hits services most sales-tax states leave alone. Hire a lawyer, an accountant, a plumber, or a web designer in Santa Fe, and GRT applies to the bill. Digital goods and subscription services are covered too.

Santa Fe’s 8.1875 percent combined rate has two pieces. The state portion is 4.875 percent, set by statute at “four and seven-eighths percent” effective July 1, 2023.⁶ The rest comes from local increments the city and county use for municipal operations and infrastructure. The Taxation and Revenue Department publishes updated schedules listing each location code and its combined rate.¹

One wrinkle to watch. If GRT revenue in any fiscal year through 2030 falls below 95 percent of the prior year’s collections, the secretary of finance and administration can push the state portion up to 5.125 percent.⁶ That trigger has not fired, but it means the combined rate in Santa Fe can rise without any local action.

What Carries Less Than the Full Rate

Not every purchase in Santa Fe takes the full 8.1875 percent. New Mexico deductions apply at the business level, but they change what shows up on your receipt.

Groceries

Receipts from selling food at qualifying retail food stores can be deducted, so groceries at a standard supermarket effectively carry no GRT.⁷ The deduction tracks federal SNAP definitions. Staple foods like produce, dairy, meat, and bread qualify. Prepared hot foods, restaurant meals, alcohol, tobacco, vitamins, and pet food do not. The store itself has to meet the federal definition of a retail food store, so convenience stores where food is under half of sales generally fall outside.

Healthcare

Health care practitioners can deduct receipts from managed care companies and health insurers for services performed under contract, which lowers the GRT burden on insured visits. The deduction does not cover co-payments, fee-for-service billing, Medicaid payments, or retail sales of non-prescription products.⁸ A visit through your insurance plan is likely reduced. An out-of-pocket, fee-for-service visit carries the full rate.

Manufacturing Inputs

Manufacturers can deduct receipts from selling ingredients incorporated into a finished product, consumables used up during manufacturing (including electricity and water), and qualified equipment used directly in production.⁹ The buyer provides a nontaxable transaction certificate, and equipment claimed here cannot also be claimed under the state’s Investment Credit Act.

How Property Tax Is Calculated

Santa Fe property tax uses mill rates applied against taxable value. One mill equals one dollar of tax per $1,000 of taxable value. Taxable value is one-third of the county assessor’s appraised market value, minus any exemptions you claim.¹⁰

Your actual mill rate depends on where in the county you sit, because city, county, school, and sometimes special assessment districts overlap. For the 2025 tax year, Santa Fe County residential rates ran from roughly 19 to 25 mills, and non-residential rates from about 26 to 35 mills.² A homeowner inside city limits (district CI-R) faced about 22.77 mills.

In dollars: a $300,000 home has a taxable value of $100,000. At 22.77 mills, the annual property tax bill runs about $2,277. Non-residential owners pay more per dollar of value because their mill rates sit higher in every district.

Exemptions and the 3 Percent Valuation Cap

Several exemptions reduce taxable value before the mill rate is applied.

Head of family: up to $2,000 of taxable value is exempt for a New Mexico resident who is head of a household and owns residential property.¹¹
Veterans: honorably discharged veterans get a $10,000 reduction from assessed value for 2026, with the amount rising annually for inflation.¹²
Disabled veterans: the exemption is proportional to the VA disability rating. A 60 percent rating exempts 60 percent of the property tax; a 100 percent rating eliminates it.

Veteran and disabled-veteran exemptions are routed through the New Mexico Department of Veterans Services before being filed with the county assessor.

New Mexico also caps how fast a home’s taxable value can climb. Under state law, the assessed value of a residential property cannot rise more than 3 percent in a year, or 6.1 percent over two years, no matter what the market does. The cap resets when the property changes hands; the new owner is valued at full market value. It also does not apply to new construction or physical improvements.¹³

Payment Deadlines and Protests

Property taxes are paid in two installments. The first half is due November 10 and becomes delinquent after December 10. The second half is due April 10 and must be paid by May 10 to avoid interest.¹⁴ Interest starts the day you miss.

If you think the assessor’s valuation is too high, file a petition with the county assessor within 30 days after the notice of valuation is mailed, which typically puts the deadline in late April or early May. The petition has to say why the value is wrong and what you believe the correct value to be.¹⁵ The assessor often offers an informal conference first, which is where many disputes get settled.

Lodgers Tax on Short Stays

Anyone staying fewer than 30 consecutive days in a Santa Fe hotel, motel, or short-term rental pays a lodgers tax on top of GRT. It is actually two levies: a 5 percent occupancy tax and a 2 percent convention center fee, totaling 7 percent.³ Rental operators, including Airbnb and VRBO hosts, collect both and remit them to the city.

Stays of 30 consecutive days or longer are exempt, as are guests with a written rental agreement for at least 30 days.¹⁶ If you’re relocating and renting while house-hunting, a written 30-day agreement from day one saves the extra 7 percent.

Stacked together, a Santa Fe hotel room carries 8.1875 percent GRT plus 7 percent lodgers tax, for roughly 15.19 percent on the room charge.

Cannabis Excise Tax

Retail cannabis in Santa Fe carries a separate excise tax on top of GRT. The rate steps up each July 1. It is 13 percent for the first half of 2026, rises to 14 percent on July 1, 2026, and continues climbing until it reaches 18 percent in 2030.⁴

Combined with the 8.1875 percent GRT, a cannabis purchase in Santa Fe during the first half of 2026 carries about a 21.19 percent total tax burden, rising to roughly 22.19 percent after July 1. The excise tax is calculated on the shelf price before GRT is added, and retailers collect both at the register.

1
New Mexico Taxation and Revenue Department. Combined GRT Rate Schedule
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Santa Fe County Assessor. Santa Fe County Mill Rate by District
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City of Santa Fe. Santa Fe FAQs Lodgers Tax
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New Mexico Taxation and Revenue Department. Cannabis Excise Tax
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New Mexico Taxation and Revenue Department. Gross Receipts Tax Overview
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Justia. New Mexico Code 7-9-4 – Imposition and Rate of Tax
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Justia. New Mexico Code 7-9-92 – Deduction, Gross Receipts, Food
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New Mexico State Records Center and Archives. Gross Receipts Taxes Part 241 – Deduction for Health Care Practitioners
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Justia. New Mexico Code 7-9-46 – Deduction, Gross Receipts, Manufacturing
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Santa Fe County. Property Tax Brochure
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FindLaw. New Mexico Statutes Chapter 7, Taxation 7-37-4
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Justia. New Mexico Code 7-37-5 – Veteran Exemption
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Justia. New Mexico Code 7-36-21.2 – Limitation on Increases in Valuation of Residential Property
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New Mexico Taxation and Revenue Department. Important Dates
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Justia. New Mexico Code 7-38-24 – Protesting Values, Classification, and Denial of Exemption
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New Mexico Department of Finance and Administration. Lodgers Tax Presentation