| | |  News Around the Republic of Mexico | October 2009 
Calderón Blasts Critics
 Maria del Carmen Martinez - The News
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October 07, 2009
| | (Notimex/Alfredo Guerrero) | |
President Felipe Calderón offered stinging criticism for opponents of his economic package, denouncing state governments that are asking for expanded federal funding but are unable to fill state budget gaps.
In a speech at his Los Pinos residence in Mexico City, Calderón at moments spoke fiercely.
"I'm proposing this package knowing it's not going to be easy," he said. "We would like if it were, of course, but we can't start thinking that public spending can expand when we're seeing a sharp reduction in revenue."
Calderón called the package "a complete equation."
"It's a difficult tax package," he acknowledged. "It is because the economic situation is difficult, but at the same time we aren't going to cower in fear and abandon Mexico's poorest people, leaving them to their luck."
Calderón insisted that social spending needs to be increased in order to help the 33 million Mexicans living in poverty. He touted the Opportunities and Popular Insurance programs, which the UN and 90 other institutions say reduce poverty.
The country faces a 300-billion peso deficit for next year as revenue falls from the state-owned oil company. Calderón's tax proposal calls for, among other things, a 2 percent tax on consumer goods and services, even on currently exempt food and medicines. The so-called "Poverty-Combatting Tax," or CAP, has been the most controversial part of the National Action Party (PAN) president's proposal, which he sent to Congress last month.
However, in the past week, members from opposition parties have offered alternatives. A handful of deputies from the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) and the Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD) suggested that basic foods, such as beans, eggs, rice, sugar and milk, be exempt from the 2 percent package. This proposal has even received the backing from a few PAN lawmakers and the UN.
At Monday's speech, the governors of Morelos, Chiapas and San Luis Potosí, Marco Adame, Juan Sabines and Fernando Toranzo, respectively, accompanied the president, where he also spoke about the United Nations' 2009 Report on Human Development. The report places Mexico in a higher position than last year, ranking it as "high," with 0.854 points on a scale of 0 to 1.0.
Despite the economic crisis that has hit Mexico hard this year, the document praises the country on keeping up with the Millennium Development Goals, in fighting extreme poverty and meeting gaps in education and health care, among others.
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