Mexico Lower House Approves Tax Law Adding Junk Food Levy

Mexico’s lower house passed a bill to raise taxes, including a new levy on junk food, as President Enrique Pena Nieto tries to shift part of the burden of financing the government from the oil industry to consumers.

The house voted 317-164 yesterday to approve a modified version of Pena Nieto’s bill that increased the top income tax rate to 35 percent from a proposed 32 percent and created a 5 percent tax on high-fat foods. The bill, which stripped out the initial plan to tax private education tuition, mortgage interest and home rentals, now heads to the Senate.