With two weeks remaining in his six-year tenure, Jalisco Governor Enrique Alfaro has reignited his longstanding dispute with the federal government over the Pacto Fiscal (Fiscal Pact), the 43-year-old agreement granting the federal government authority to allocate tax revenues among states and municipalities how it sees fit.
Alfaro argues that the pact is outdated and fails to fairly compensate Jalisco, one of Mexico’s most significant contributors to the national economy.
“This unfairness has been especially evident during the six years of Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s presidency,” Alfaro said. Since 2021, for every ten pesos Jalisco sends to the federal government, only two pesos return, he highlighted this week. “We cannot allow ourselves to be ignored and mistreated budgetarily,” Alfaro added, emphasizing that his position is not a political battle.
However, some commentators suggest Jalisco’s Movimiento Ciudadano (MC) government is being penalized by federal authorities aligned with the ruling Morena Party, simply for being in the opposition. Perhaps closer to the truth is that allocations appear to have shrunk after Alfaro organized a statewide public “consultation” on the pact in December of 2021.
Although Alfaro threatened to withdraw from the pact, he emphasized his preference to find a “legal route” to initiate a renegotiation process, aiming to establish clearer “principles, operating conditions and basic obligations.”
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