Dearth and taxes
The rebellion of the geeks succeeded. The three percent telecommunciations connection tax is dead. However, it appears that PRI and PAN senators have more or less signed off on a one percent raise in the sales tax (IVA), and higher taxes on alchohol, tabacco and lottery tickets, all regressive taxes.
By way of progressive taxation, there is a two percent raise in the income tax rate (from 28 to 30 percent at the top rate), and the Senate and the Administration is starting to be put some long overdue focus on businesses who evade taxes altogether.
Felipe Calderón is sort of begging the big businesses to start paying their taxes, Augustin Carstens is saying it’s socially irresponsible to look for loopholes in the tax system, but I don’t see anyone volunteering to pay their taxes. By using unlimited deferments, the big companies never pay today what can be put off until tomorrow, and tomorrow never comes: according to Calderón, the largest businesses are only paying a 1.7% tax on revenues, less than half that paid by the very low taxed corporations in the United States. And those large agricultural export businesses that the now former Undersecretary of Agriculture held out as an example to agricultural producers yesterday pay none at all.
The Mex Files 