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Mexico Elite Tremble From Threat of Tax Crackdown Under New Law

  • Statutes define major tax evasion as a type of organized crime
  • Business leaders warn abuse of law could chill investment
The Mexican flag flies in the Zocalo main square in Mexico City, Mexico.

The Mexican flag flies in the Zocalo main square in Mexico City, Mexico.

Photographer: Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg

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Mexico’s elite are quaking after leftist lawmakers passed a new law that makes tax evasion a type of organized crime that could justify the seizure of assets even before judges rule on the validity of charges.

Lawmakers in the country’s lower house Tuesday passed the bill that would make tax fraud of more than 7.8 million pesos ($400,000) a national security threat and a type of organized crime that could be punished with prison without parole during trial and with as much as nine years behind bars.