The mayor of Reynosa, Tamaulipas, wants federal lawmakers to impose a tax on vendors of tacos, corn and other products sold in the informal economy.

Maki Ortiz, a former federal deputy, said that owners of food stands making less than 2 million pesos (US $100,000) a year should be required to pay 5% income tax.

In testimony before the Chamber of Deputies Treasury Commission, she said such a tax would generate “wealth for everyone.”

“No one knows informal commerce like we do,” she said. “We’ve done a census of taco vendors, corn vendors, all those people who don’t pay taxes.”

Ortiz joined other mayors in complaining that municipalities have been receiving fewer resources from the federal government, and proposed that such a tax on the informal economy could be a way to provide additional income for municipal governments.

The mayor also urged legislation requiring that migrants support themselves after being in the country for a certain amount of time because funding to support migrants was cut by the Chamber of Deputies.

“We support them, but they should work, because it costs between 300 and 500 pesos per day for food, medicine, light and water,” she said. “Today, in a shelter, we have a thousand people, including 400 Cubans, 300 Central Americans, over a hundred from other countries and only 12 Mexicans. Mexicans aren’t crossing the border, but we have to take care of all of them.”

She added that the municipality has 30,000 jobs available for migrants, but that many aren’t interested in working.

Source: El Universal (sp)