Wrong, #7. Taxes should be paid, and in the unit currency of "hours of child-rape". Redeem yours today!
Name:
Anonymous2013-11-03 9:55
Mexican government pushing junk-food tax
MEXICO CITY - Mexico's Senate has passed a special tax on junk food, a controversial levy opposed by companies which argue that it will do little to alleviate the country's obesity epidemic.
The measure is part of a vast fiscal reform pushed by President Enrique Pena Nieto to boost the country's dismal tax revenues.
The Senate voted 72-2 to impose an 8 per cent tax on foods with at least 275 kilocalories per 100 grams, such as snacks, flan, peanut butter and ice cream.
The conservative opposition was absent during the voting after walking out over its rejection of another reform measure, a sales tax hike for states bordering the United States.
Since the proposed junk-food tax is higher than the 5 per cent levy approved by the Chamber of Deputies earlier, the measure will go back to the lower house for a new vote.
Backers of the Bill say it will help combat obesity and diabetes in a country where more than two-thirds of the population are either overweight or obese.
But critics say the underlying goal is to raise revenue for a government with a dismal tax intake amounting to 13.7 per cent of gross domestic product, compared to 18.4 per cent in the rest of Latin America.
The Senate is also debating a special levy on sugary drinks of two pesos a litre, approved by the lower house despite intense lobbying from soda makers. Mexicans are the world's biggest consumers of fizzy beverages at 163 litres per capita per year.