MEXICO CITY (apro).- The local PAN representative, Frida Guillén Ortiz, presented a bill in the Congress of Mexico City to modify the local Tax Code and apply a tax to the so-called “digital nomads” that may be used in improvements to public transportation, urban services and infrastructure for the residents of the capital.
With this, he explained, facilities will be granted so that citizens who reside in the periphery can move more easily:
“We know that thousands of foreigners come to our city to enjoy their work comfortably, to do so remotely. However, we also need circumstances of equality and conditions so that both foreigners and locals can live with dignity.”
Furthermore, he clarified: “It is not a matter of forcing, it is not a matter of sanctioning, much less of discriminating, but rather achieving this balance between foreigners and locals.”
Under the slogan “a roof is our right,” the local PAN representative referred to the Roma and Condesa neighborhoods, in the Cuauhtémoc mayor’s office, and asked:
“Have any of the residents of the capital, the foreigners and the companies that invest in Mexico ever started to think that perhaps people want to live in the downtown area of the city, because regardless of Rome or these colonies, “Do they have public services, access to transportation, and why are many of the jobs concentrated here?”
He added: “How capricious it is that we seek to have quality of life and not have to spend two, three, four hours on public transportation to get to our home, to our jobs, to schools, and so on.”
According to Guillén Ortiz, this crisis has its origins in a system that “keeps Mexicans slaves living to work and not the other way around, with very bad salaries, lack of opportunities and zero access to employment.”
The initiative presented by the legislator responds to the increase in popularity that Mexico has acquired as the destination for people who work remotely from anywhere in the world, which gives them the opportunity to pay rent and services with the local currency (peso), with their income in their currency of origin, which is commonly the dollar or the euro.
According to the European firm Restart, Mexico is the Latin American country with the highest number of digital nomads and reached its peak thanks to the Covid-19 pandemic and the implementation of work from home.
