The international confederation Oxfam, made up of 19 non-governmental organizations that seeks, through human action and political will, to eradicate poverty and create conditions of social equality, has just presented a document in Mexico called Who pays the bill? The myths behind taxes on large fortunes in Mexico.
The document seeks to raise awareness of the imminent need to improve the conditions for auditing, since they consider that despite Mexico being a large economy, it collects taxes at similar levels as low-income countries. He even mentions that even without corruption, public money would be insufficient to meet government obligations due to little room for maneuver, since out of every $100 pesos, $15 is spent on pensions, $10 on public debt, $19 on social programs, and $14 in shares to states and municipalities. Currently, the unavoidable expenses of the federal government represent almost $40 of every $100 of total spending, which is why economic development and growth is important to generate wealth and invest in infrastructure to reduce inequality.
But who pays the bill in the face of the crises in Mexico? The impact on the pocket of all families was not the same, the most affected were the majority of people and according to Coneval 9 out of 100 people are in extreme poverty, which is why the salary increase proposed by the current administration is a success. On the other hand, the fortunes of the super rich grew 117 times faster, their wealth increased by 33% from the start of the pandemic to November 2022, and apparently these numbers are not reflected in public finances because a part of them and their companies use strategies to reduce the payment of taxes. Oxfam concludes that when the super-rich don’t pay, others do.
So who pays taxes in Mexico? As VAT and IEPS are consumption taxes and regressive, the poorest households end up paying more as a proportion of their total income, a situation that has been going on for several decades and that has been more evident in the latter, since the collection from working people represents 6.66% of GDP -payroll tax, social security and personal income- and 3.90% of companies or wealth -progressive taxes-.
What to do in these cases, with a society so marked by economic and social inequalities where the richest 1% -1.2 million people- are the owners of $47 out of every $100. Given the current scenario, Oxfam Mexico has placed at the center of the debate, generating controversy, the analysis of the creation of a tax on the great Mexican fortunes with a collection capacity of 270,000 million pesos, which would charge 2% to those who have assets greater than 20 million pesos. , 3% for those over 100 million pesos and 5% for super millionaires of 20,000 million pesos or more.
Leaving Oxfam’s proposal aside, I believe that in Mexico and particularly in Sinaloa the solution lies in municipal taxes, specifically the property tax, in knowing its collection capacity, in designing a new equilibrium rate -equitable and fair-, and taking advantage of technological advances that allow for synergy with the three levels of government to identify, register and charge for each property, so that they do not pay the same as always.
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