(Bloomberg) — Mexico can increase government revenue without boosting tax rates and needs to keep the central bank’s independence, presidential frontrunner Claudia Sheinbaum said, giving policy hints ahead of next year’s election.
(Bloomberg) — Mexico can increase government revenue without boosting tax rates and needs to keep the central bank’s independence, presidential frontrunner Claudia Sheinbaum said, giving policy hints ahead of next year’s election.
To increase revenue, Mexico should remove barriers to investment and cut red tape to open and operate businesses, added Sheinbaum at a business event organized by Expansion magazine. She pointed to a reduction of bureaucratic procedures from 2,500 to 500 in her time as Mexico City mayor.
“Digitizing procedures allows us to cut the time they take, as well as corruption,” she said to a packed auditorium, ruling out tax increases if she is elected president. “Easing red tape related to investment could even lead to higher revenues for the Treasury.”
Sheinbaum will represent President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador’s ruling party Morena in 2024 presidential elections and until now had focused her campaign messaging on highlighting that she will continue his policies.
She will seek to extend the policies of low government spending that AMLO, as the president is known, has dubbed as “austerity,” she said later in response to questions.
Economists have cautioned that AMLO’s increased public spending in infrastructure projects and welfare programs will likely require a fiscal reform in the coming years, no matter who wins the presidency, if Mexico doesn’t want to put its investment grade credit rating at risk.
Read More: Mexico Poised to Elect 1st Female Leader After AMLO Party Pick
In her remarks, Sheinbaum said that the country must ensure that the recent nearshoring push, which is bringing investment to the country as companies look to be closer to the US, also promotes the wellbeing of local workers.
Mexico needs to speed up the energy transition and improve coordination and police conditions for better security, she added.
Sheinbaum also said she’s been in contact with another top contender for the ruling party nomination, former Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard. Ebrard has complained that the nomination process had irregularities and was skewed in Sheinbaum’s favor.
(Updates with additional context in sixth paragraph)
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