This conclusion is part of the report “Tax Reform: starting point towards post-pandemic equality in Mexico”, presented by Oxfam Mexico, Fundar, Analysis Center, AC, and the Center for Economic and Budgetary Research, AC (CIEP).
“The COVID-19 pandemic has caused a global economic crisis, it is estimated that 97 million people live on less than $1.90 a day and another 163 million live on less than $5.50 a day since the start of the pandemic” , indicated the text.
“Advancing towards more supportive societies requires investing in health systems so that they can provide quality services to the entire population,” said Alexandra Haas, executive director of Oxfam Mexico, according to the report.
lack of income
The income that Mexico collects from taxes is equivalent to 13.1% of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) and “this is not enough to meet the demand for health services and to attend to the rest of the socioeconomic problems” of the nation, which has 43.9% of the population in poverty.
In terms of collection, Mexico is below other countries with the same income level. In 2019, Brazil, Argentina and South Africa collected 33.1%, 28.7% and 26.2% of their GDP, respectively, the document underlined, calling this an “anomaly”.
“The poor redistributive performance of our tax system is a consequence of the lack of political will to tax the wealth of the richest people in the country,” exhorted Iván Benumea, coordinator of the Tax Justice Program at Fundar.