Tax collection for foreign trade operations has recovered this year, after the severe blow it suffered in 2020 due to the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic; However, data from the Tax Administration Service (SAT) show levels still below those of 2019.
Preliminary data from the collecting body, led by Raquel Buenrostro, indicated that from January to November 904,047 million pesos have been obtained through the 49 customs offices that operate in the Mexican Republic. This data is 8.9% higher than what was obtained in the same period of 2020.
These revenues represented 28% of the 3 trillion 209,409 million pesos, collected in total by the SAT in the period; just 0.8% higher than what was collected in 2020.
In a preliminary report, the SAT indicated that although the reactivation of the economy has helped the collection of taxes, both internal and external, to show a better performance than in 2020, in foreign trade revenues are still 7% per below what was registered in 2019, the year before the pandemic.
With figures from 2021, the collection obtained prior to the impact of Covid-19 was 976,182 million pesos, that is, 72,135 million pesos more than what was registered in the first 11 months of this year.
According to the tax authority, the lower collection is due to smuggling, a problem that customs have grappled with for years, as well as the uncertainty still generated by the pandemic due to the appearance of new strains, which has led to different governments to re-implement restrictive measures.
In Mexico, although no restrictive measures have been applied on national and international flights, the uncertainty over the appearance of Ómicron has caused several institutions to reduce their economic growth estimates.
Maritime, the ones that leave the most to the treasury
The SAT data indicated that the seaports were the customs offices with the highest collection left to the public treasury, representing 50.3% of the total registered by the 49 customs offices of the country.
In total, the 17 maritime customs left a collection of 454,707 million pesos from January to November, which meant a growth of 6.5% compared to the same period last year.
Different behaviors were observed in the details of these ports. On the one hand, the customs of Progreso, in Yucatán, was the one that presented the greatest increase in its collection, leaving 5,637 million pesos, 44.7% more than last year. In contrast, the Guaymas customs, in Sonora, collected 4,437 million, 45.7% less than last year.
Meanwhile, the 21 border customs of the country left resources for 316,252 million pesos in the first 11 months of the year, which meant an annual growth of 14.2 percent. This represents 35% of the total collected by foreign trade.
The highest growth occurred in that of San Luis Río Colorado, in Sonora, which managed to enter 474 million pesos, 160% more than a year ago, while that of Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, was the only one that reduced its collection, in 5.6%, by obtaining 29,846 million pesos.
In the case of the 11 internal customs, they left 132,326 million pesos, 9.7% more than last year. The largest increase was in Torreón, which collected 1,404 million pesos, 198% more than a year ago, while that of Aguascalientes suffered a 2.7% decrease to leave 5,885 million pesos.
Reference-www.eleconomista.com.mx