¡No pasaran!

Read their lips… no new taxes.  Or, at least, no new sales tax on food, medication and schooling.

One of the more Orwellian ideas of late has been to sell regressive taxation as a progressive idea.  The Calderón Adminstration, looking to make up for projected revenue shortfalls, has been pushing a two percent tax on … well, everything.  While sales taxes (already we have a 15 percent Value Added Tax) food, medication, and educational material has always been exempt, on the premise that basically, people can do without “stuff” — but not eating and not learning is no way to get out of poverty.

So, the administration, facing opposition to income tax changes has been trying to sell the two percent sales tax as an anti-poverty plan.  PAN Senate leader, Gustavo Madero argues that the tax “won’t be a sacrifice to the country’s 30 million living in poverty, because they will benefit the most when the taxes are converted into the fight against poverty.Excuse me?

The argument presented by the President is that a strong government creates a strong country.  Blogotitlan responds that a strong people (or at least people with enough to eat, not getting sick and receiving some education) is what makes a strong nation.

PRI, which controls both the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies, has said the latest is a no-go, and the PRD, PT and Convergencia have never backed the idea.