For this week, it is expected that the part corresponding to public income of the 2026 Economic Package (Income Laws, Rights, IEPS, and Federal Tax Code) will be ruled and voted on in the Chamber of Deputies. It will then go to the Senate where it must be approved before October 31.
Of the set of proposals, they stand out five that can affect international trade and the T-MECwhich is reviewed in 2026 by the three member countries.
1.- Fees for telephone and mobile Internet
The first, regarding the Law of Rights, is that fees for spectrum rights will continue above international standards; According to the regulator, they are 60% higher than the global average, warned Guillermo Bernal, director of Public Affairs of the American Chamber of Commerce of Mexico (AmCham).
“This represents a technical barrier to trade and limits the attraction of investment. This approach could also have implications for Mexico’s commitments regarding competition, plurality and universal coverage established in the Constitution and in the T-MEC itself,” Bernal explained.
For the following year, the federal government proposes to maintain the rates for rights over the radio spectrum at the same levels as 2025, which would make Mexico the most expensive country, which would remain the most expensive in Latin America for this essential input for companies that offer telephone and mobile Internet services, with consequences for the pockets of end users. However, even without details, discounts are proposed for companies that provide coverage in areas that do not have connectivity and contribute to reducing the digital divide.
2.- Withholding of 4% of ISR to digital platforms
By 2026, if a company sells products or services through digital platforms, the latter will have to retain this percentage and report it to the Tax Administration Service (SAT).
“This measure applied to gross income can affect liquidity and working capital in companies, especially micro and small businesses, limiting their capacity for reinvestment or growth. It could also be interpreted as technical barriers to trade, contrary to the spirit of simplification provided in chapter seven of the T-MEC and generates additional irritants in bilateral cooperation,” Bernal commented last week in a meeting with the deputies that make up the Finance and Public Credit Commission, as part of the analysis of the Package.
3.- Access to the SAT platform database
The proposal to reform the Federal Tax Code, which would give the Tax Administration Service (SAT) access to the databases of digital platforms, is generating concern, as it has implications in terms of privacy, protection of personal data and cybersecurity.
If this proposal is approved as proposed, greater real-time supervision is expected in all operations carried out by digital service providers. The platforms, which are mostly international companies, will have to invest in improving or adapting to allow this entry. Also investing in cybersecurity, costs that enter into the formula for companies to choose destinations for investment, explained Gil Zenteno, partner at Basham Ringe y Correa.
“At first I do see some problems, since it affects fundamental rights that are recognized in the Constitution. Your information is part of what your accounting is, it is your papers, it is your positions and the Constitution says that the authority can do it, but as long as there is a written order in which it explains why it is doing that review. (…) And probably the issue of international treaties may also be affected, there will surely be provisions to protect foreign investment. Many of these platforms are foreign,” commented Zenteno.
The AmCham representative said that it is an unprecedented measure and that it may violate the principle of free cross-border flow of data enshrined in the T-MEC.
