Mexico’s plan to slap a green tax on new cars has been overshadowed by controversy over President Vicente Fox’s bid to extend the country’s value-added levy (Vat) to food and medicine. Both initiatives form part of a tax-reform package that has been stuck in Congress since April and could be scrapped if the deadlock over Vat is not resolved. However, officials are hoping the green tax will be approved separately from the tax-reform legislation. “It’s quite a noble tax, quite salable. It’s not aimed at generating extra tax revenue and doesn’t have a purpose that makes people suspicious,” says its creator, Francisco Giner, assistant director-general of charges and user fees at Mexico’s Finance Secretariat. Giner has been charged with designing taxes... [Log in to read more]