At the beginning of August, President Claudia Sheinbaum has raised the need to discuss and approve an electoral reform, which raises issues on the financing of political parties, revocation of mandate and elimination of multinominal legislators.
The issue is a priority for the federal government, since, the creation of a commission has been announced that will shape the proposal from the organization of forums, work and listening tables from citizen proposals.
Although the proposal for the reform of the Mexican political system is necessary, it seems that this discussion is out of place, since, the Mexican moment is of commercial uncertainty with the United States and a forecast of low economic growth in 2025 and 2026.
Therefore, the reasonable question is what the legislative and executive efforts between a tax and electoral reform should be spent, given the national and international economic situation.
Let us not lose sight of the fact that any reform of the political or economic system in Mexico requires an effort to convince all actors in the country, that is, political, business class, unions and state governments, which can be very unpacking.
An electoral reform such as the one raised until the month of August requires a negotiation to convince state governments and political parties that will lose power in the short and medium term, which implies that the current negotiation will be difficult and can hinder the future discussion in the Mexican Congress in other issues of national interest.
To give priority to the electoral reform, the remainder of the legislative period in the Chamber of Deputies would be used to discuss an issue that affects future congressmen and governors and would deplete the time to begin a discussion about the much necessary fiscal reform.
At this point it is worth asking about how partisan moods and state governments will be after the electoral reform to give way to a fiscal reform from 2027, once the intermediate elections ended and possession was taken to all the people winning elections that year.
Assuming that the ruling party manages to align all the political interests derived from an electoral reform, the doubt arises about whether to begin the discussion of a tax reform in 2027 will be too late.
In 2025 there is uncertainty about the manufacturing sector in Mexico and its ability to continue generating employment and exporting; There is uncertainty about the ability of the Mexican State to raise efficiently and allocate it to priority issues such as the health, education and security sector.
Nor is the certainty about how the labor market in the United States will behave and, therefore, the sending of remittances from that country to Mexico.
2027 is distant if it is thought to begin a discussion about fiscal reform at that time, since, between today and that year a greater destruction of employment can be generated in Mexico, stop the process of reduction of poverty and extreme poverty, as well as not being able to improve the health and educational system.
It is worth establishing legislative discussions with Mexican society about what is more urgent between a tax and electoral reform, considering that in issues of economic indicators there is a lot to do by the federal government.
About the author:
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The author is an economy teacher at UNAM, coordinator of the Single Specialization Program in Economics (Postgraduate, UNAM).
The opinions expressed are only the responsibility of their authors and are completely independent of the position and the editorial line of Forbes Mexico.
