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 News Around the Republic of Mexico | June 2005 
Plan to Boost Tax Revenues
 Orquídia Soto - El Universal
| | To increase its income, the government is putting its sights on the millions working in the informal economy who don't pay taxes. |
President Vicente Fox's administration has prepared a strategy designed to entice workers in the nation's informal economy into paying taxes, according to a senior official.
In an interview with El Universal, Eduardo Sojo, head of Fox's public policies department, said the plan is to convince the nation's millions of informal workers to pay by offering housing credits, health insurance, education scholarships and retirement plans in return.
The informal economy is a major headache for the federal government. According to the nation's Statistics, Geography and Information Institute (INEGI), more than 11 million Mexicans work in the informal economy, which is 28 percent of the working population.
These workers are not taxed, and therefore contribute to the government's chronic low levels of tax revenue, forcing it to rely on income from Pemex, the state-controlled oil giant. Pemex's heavy tax load, however, has deprived it of much-needed funding for maintenance and exploration.
According to the Mexico City Chamber of Commerce, Services and Tourism (Canaco), the nation is losing out on 50 billion pesos (US4.6 billion) of annual tax revenue.
"We are creating a mechanism in which (informal workers) can save to improve their housing," Sojo said. "It will be a plan that does not give people an incentive to work in the informal economy, but allows access to housing for people who live in poverty or can't get credit." |
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