🗳️ Mexico is going to hold elections – by popular vote – of around 1,700 judges in 2025 and 2027. The estimated cost of those elections to the public budget is around MXN 13 billion (USD 645 million – https://bit.ly/4feUfs1). In addition, the recently approved judicial reform requires Mexican courts to resolve tax cases in up to 06 (six) months, with judges subject to penalties for non-compliance.
📜 Tax law is a complex field. Some authors refer to its rules as a “tangle of vines” (or “cipoal” in Portuguese – see p. 26 of “Uma Análise Histórica sobre a Complexidade do Sistema Tributário Nacional”, by Marcelo Rabelo Henrique, Juliane Vidal, Sandro Braz and Antonio Saporito, published by Centro Universitário Ateneu in 2024: https://bit.ly/3ZTBjKI). It is so labyrinthine that many academics and practitioners devote their lives not to tax law as a whole, but to any one or two of its sub-areas (e.g., VAT, Corporate Tax, Environmental Tax, International Tax).
🏛️ The popular vote may not be the optimal strategy for electing judges that will oversee tax cases – even with requirements such as a GPA of 8 out of 10 (or of 9 in specific subjects in law school). The fact that candidates will be pre-selected by committees within the three Powers of government and then submitted to a popular vote is also a concern. Finally, though the speed of dispute resolution is one of many possible performance measures of a functioning judicial system, it should never be optimized to the detriment of the pursuit of justice. Certain cases might be considered delayed even if resolved within six months, while others could be deemed rushed even if they spanned two years.
✅ Authors Mario Barrera Vázquez and Andrea Iturbide Maldonado have explored this topic in an article published today in Tax Notes International. The article is titled “Tax Disputes and Mexican Judicial Reform” and it is available here: https://bit.ly/3ZFOAFk
💡 If you are interested in reading more about tax litigation in judicial courts in LatAm, here are a few articles on the subject recommended by the Latin American Tax Policy Forum (LATPF):
➡️ “La revisión judicial de los actos de la administración tributaria en Cuba”, by Yalenni P. Urquiza. Published by Universidad Autónoma del Caribe (2016). Available at: https://bit.ly/41Aa9tH
➡️ “Ravizza y Servera Ltda. con SII: el derecho a ser juzgado dentro de un plazo razonable: primeras aproximaciones jurisprudenciales en Chile”, by Daniel Cattan Espinosa. Published by Universidad de Concepción (2022). Available at: https://bit.ly/3ZBDjGf
➡️ “O Contencioso Judicial Fiscal e a Reforma Tributária”, by Janine G. B. de O. Macatrão, Mônica Mayumi Eguchi, Rebeca C. P. de Freitas, Danilo B. Pires, Fábio A. D. Montes, and Helio Marsiglia Junior. Published by Procuradoria Geral do Estado de São Paulo (PGE/SP) (2021). Available at: https://bit.ly/3De4SOl
