Filthy, Shameless Robbery': Thousands Protest Mexico's New Tax Regime RT.com
go to original September 9, 2013

Thousands of followers listen to Mexican leftist Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador (not pictured) during a political gathering in Mexico City September 8, 2013 (Reuters/Henry Romero)

A reported 40,000 protestors rallied in Mexico City to reject President Enrique Pena Nieto’s new tax plan, which increases the burden on individual taxpayers and allocates $27 billion investment to state-oil company Pemex.

The leftist opposition called for a ‘peaceful mobilization’ against the new oil reform that is ‘treasonous’ and ‘filthy, shameless robbery’ of the state’s resources.

Early in August Pena Nieto announced his plans to end Mexico’s 75-year-old state oil monopoly and open up the market to foreign investors.

Under the ‘grand transformation’ President Pena Nieto proposed a 2014 budget that increases the tax burden mostly for the middle class. The tax rate will go up to 32 percent from 30 percent for those who earn more than 500,000 pesos ($37,800) a year.

He also proposed the country’s first carbon levy, soft drink tax, and capital gains levies. The scheme avoids taxing food and medicine, despite many observers expecting the move. The president said he didn't adopt that approach because it would hurt the poorest Mexicans. But he said he would follow through with periodic increases in gasoline prices, which is aimed at phasing out fuel subsidies in Mexico.

Income disparity in the country is enormous, as Mexico  is home to the world's richest man, telecoms magnate Carlos Slim, while nearly half the population lives in poverty, Associated Press reports.

Read the rest at RT.com

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