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4 - Mexico

Cardenismo, Reaction, and Low-Tax Stability

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 January 2021

Gabriel Ondetti
Affiliation:
Missouri State University
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Summary

Even more than Chile, Mexico is a case of light taxation. Although its tax burden has increased recently, it remains well below the regional average. Non-tax revenue from PEMEX helps explain this situation, but it is not simply a product of reliance on oil. This chapter develops a political explanation of Mexico’s light taxation, which argues that the causal dynamics behind it are similar to the ones operating in Chile in two crucial respects. First, light taxation reflects a sustained power imbalance favoring anti-statist actors. Second, this imbalance is largely an unintentional, path-dependent consequence of efforts by a left-leaning government to redistribute property in favor of workers. The key reformist episode, which occurred during the mid-1930s, set in motion a reactive sequence whose result, strong business organization and the coming together of economic elites and social conservatives in a relatively cohesive anti-statist bloc, was subsequently reproduced through self-reinforcing mechanisms involving ideas and power. This bloc has held together under both authoritarian and democratic conditions, frustrating efforts to raise taxes and expand the public sector.

Type
Chapter
Information
Property Threats and the Politics of Anti-Statism
The Historical Roots of Contemporary Tax Systems in Latin America
, pp. 106 - 148
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2021

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  • Mexico
  • Gabriel Ondetti, Missouri State University
  • Book: Property Threats and the Politics of Anti-Statism
  • Online publication: 14 January 2021
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108914147.005
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  • Mexico
  • Gabriel Ondetti, Missouri State University
  • Book: Property Threats and the Politics of Anti-Statism
  • Online publication: 14 January 2021
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108914147.005
Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Mexico
  • Gabriel Ondetti, Missouri State University
  • Book: Property Threats and the Politics of Anti-Statism
  • Online publication: 14 January 2021
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108914147.005
Available formats
×