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Tax fraud to become a felony in Mexico

In Mexico, one of the most common corruption acts are tax evasion and financial fraud

The current government has vowed to eradicate tax evasion - Photo: File Photo/EL UNIVERSAL
08/08/2019 |09:56
Redacción El Universal
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In Mexico , one of the most common corruption acts are tax evasion and financial fraud , therefore, the federal government has to eradicate these practices and will soon pass a bill to consider these types of frauds as crimes perpetrated by criminal organizations .

The Senate is getting ready to reform the current fiscal laws to toughen the punishments for those who use or produce documents that guarantee the alleged existence of shell companies or the execution of false commercial or legal transactions , in order to deduct or evade taxes .

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and MC senators are the ones promoting this initiative that, among other measures, is looking to require preventive custody for those who commit frauds . Besides punishing the simulation of commercial and legal operations, authorities will also toughen the punishments against trafficking invoices and documents .

Lawmakers

warn that it wouldn't be positive for the fight against corruption to, as it has been proposed, stop considering tax crimes as a threat to national security . The legal initiative has been supported by other parties, as well as banks and business groups as they consider that this type of corruption acts cause the loss of billions in the public purse , at the expense of the budget that should be allocated for essential operations carried out by the federal administration and to fund social programs .

Moreover, when public servants are involved in tax evasion and financial fraud cases, the senators are asking for tougher sentences, even when the officials didn't provide documents or planned the crime, for those who participated in the commission of the offense, for example, acquiring false invoices . This means that besides facing justice, they will be removed from office and will be banned from office for up to 10 years.

Although it is feasible to toughen the punishments in order to fight tax crimes, authorities should also monitor this tool so that it doesn't mean the use of unreasonable force against citizens or companies who have no intention to damage Mexico's assets .

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