Tuesday, April 1, 2025

Senate says no to huge increase in tourist taxes after industry objections

The Senate has put the brakes on hefty hikes to two tourist taxes that were approved by the lower house of Congress.

The Chamber of Deputies last week approved a 388% increase to the DSM immigration services tax and a 58% hike to the DNR non-resident tax.

To enter the country by air, tourists would have been required to pay a total of 1,265 pesos (US $66), 98% more than they currently pay.

However, the Senate voted against the proposal following strong criticism of the increases by the tourist industry and business groups.

Senators with the ruling Morena party, which leads a coalition with majorities in both houses of Congress, said that approving the tax hikes would cause Mexico to lose competitiveness as a tourism destination.

They claimed that migrants who use air transportation to return to their countries of origin to visit their families would have been the most affected by the higher taxes.

Luis Alegre Salazar, a Morena deputy and president of the lower house tourism commission, said that experts weren’t consulted before the Chamber of Deputies passed the increases. He voted against the hikes.

One-fifth of all DSM and DNR tax revenue will go the National Immigration Institute in 2020 while the remainder will be used for investment in infrastructure.

Revenue from the DNR tax, approximately 6 billion pesos (US $314.6 million) annually, was previously allocated to tourism promotion.

But the federal government disbanded the Tourism Promotion Council and said that DNR revenue would help finance construction of the Maya Train on the Yucatán peninsula.

A record 41.4 million international tourists came to Mexico last year, 5.5% more than in 2017. Mexico is the seventh most visited country in the world.

Source: Infobae (sp) 

Have something to say? Paid Subscribers get all access to make & read comments.
Los Alegres de Barranco band poses with instruments and cowboy hats

US revokes visas of Mexican band who paid homage to cartel boss ‘El Mencho’

5
The band Los Alegres del Barranco is at the center of a heated controversy after paying tribute to notorious drug lord Nemesio "El Mencho" Oseguera Cervantes during a recent concert.
Kristi Noem and President Trump

Homeland Security Secretary outlines Trump’s ‘wishlist’ for Mexico to sidestep tariffs

12
The list of requests was presented to President Sheinbaum by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, who suggested Mexico may still be able to avoid tariffs before Wednesday.
A stack of tortillas with a hand at the top, pulling a couple of tortillas off the stack.

UNAM designs a ‘supertortilla’ to fight malnutrition in Mexico

4
According to federal data, over 18% of Mexicans lack access to quality nutritional food, while obesity and diabetes are prevalent in Mexico.