Latin American Economy & Business - November 2013 (ISSN 1741-7430)

Mexico’s fiscal reform bill, approved by both houses of congress at the end of October and now awaiting the signature of President Enrique Peña Nieto, has not gone down well with the country’s mining industry. The general aim of the bill was to boost non-oil tax revenues to strengthen the government’s fiscal position. Most economists agreed that with some of the lowest general taxation rates in the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), Mexico definitely needs to strengthen government finances. But Mexico’s mining industry, the biggest in Latin America, says it has been unfairly singled out and is being asked to make a disproportionate contribution.