Mexico Plans Tourist Tax to Fund Passenger Rail Expansion

Mexico City, Mexico — The Chamber of Deputies has begun outlining a new financing mechanism for the development of passenger rail transportation in Mexico, derived from a special tax on foreign tourists staying in strategic urban areas.

The measure, still in its initial phase, aims to capture more than 2 billion pesos annually (115 million dollars at present value) for the passenger rail system, which Congress itself considers fundamental for mobility and development, as it forms part of the government’s strategic projects.

The first step was taken in the early days of the year in the Budget and Public Account Commission, which unanimously approved the opinion on the initiative promoted by Deputy Mayra Espino Suárez of the Green Ecologist Party of Mexico (PVEM), one of the most obstinate allies of Morena, the government’s party.

The project does not formally create a tax, but rather a specific federal contribution whose exclusive destination would be mass passenger rail transportation, through a mechanism that would channel resources via a public trust, designed to finance works, projects, and expansion of the rail system.

According to the budget analysis presented to legislators, the trust would have an initial operating cost of 106.9 million pesos (6.5 million dollars), a marginal figure compared to the estimated collection potential for its first year.

The discussion took place during the Fifteenth Ordinary Meeting of the commission, chaired by Deputy Merilyn Gómez Pozos of Morena, with a legal quorum and with the precedent that the initiative was referred to the Plenary in December 2025, amid the government’s renewed interest in passenger trains.

New Fiscal Route

Beyond the budgetary technicalities, the proposal opens a sensitive political debate about who should pay for railway modernization.

By focusing the contribution on foreign visitors with temporary lodging, the financing project would seek to avoid a direct impact on national taxpayers and, at the same time, take advantage of tourist flow in urban areas with high mobility demand.

However, not all legislators accept the argument without reservations.

Deputy Margarita Zavala of the National Action Party and wife of former President Felipe Calderón warned that, even though the initiative avoids the word tax, in practice it does imply an additional burden for visitors.

“It must be analyzed carefully,” she stated, especially in a context of international promotion like the International Tourism Fair (Fitur) 2026.

Zavala also introduced an uncomfortable angle for railway enthusiasm: security.

She called for not minimizing operational risks and demanded clarification of the Interoceanic Train accident, as it is an event with “possible legal implications” that cannot be separated from the debate on expansion and financing.

Even with those warnings, the Commission closed ranks.

The initiative was approved with 35 votes in favor, without votes against or abstentions, a sign of consensus uncommon in fiscal matters.

What Follows Is Decisive

The commission’s presidency reported that the document will be sent to the dictaminating commissions, where the proposal will face deeper analysis.

There it will be determined whether this tourist contribution becomes the starting ticket for a new era of passenger trains in Mexico or remains, like other attempts, in a dead end.