The Mexican National Mining Alliance warned this week that approval of the tax on coal production and carbon dioxide emissions would threaten to eliminate 400,000 direct and indirect jobs in the steel industry.
Union leaders interviewed federal legislators to expose the risks inherent in the adoption of this tax calling on Congress to not approve that part of the tax reform initiative. They explained that in two meetings deputies and senators of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) indicated that there will be no going back on the proposal submitted by President Enrique Pena Nieto.
According to the proposal, with the creation of new Special Tax on Production and Services Coal, the government will charge US$5.80? per ton of coal produced , in addition to US$14.60? per ton of emission carbon dioxide. Union leaders mentioned that the steel companies would be primarily affected by the initiative, since this mineral used as basic raw material in the production of steel.
The tax is considered by many to be unfair and inequitable as collecting the tax would hurt many sectors,? especially Chihuahua's economy, from which 95 percent of the country's coal is produced. In addition, 500,000 people depend on mineral extraction for their livelihood.
One of the steel companies would be affected by this initiative is Altos Hornos de México (AHMSA)--based in the northern state of Coahuila and providing approximately 80 percent of the existing coal in the country.
