Mexico’s Culture Secretary Proposes Zero Tax Rate for Small and Medium Bookstores; It Would Mean a Tax Benefit of Some 250 Million Pesos

ByReyes Martínez Torrijos

This article by Reyes Martínez Torrijos originally appeared in the September 9, 2026 edition of La Jornada, Mexico’s premier left wing daily newspaper.

Mexico City. Claudia Curiel de Icaza, head of the federal Secretariat of Culture, explained in an exclusive interview with La Jornada the details of the comprehensive policy for the book sector announced at a press conference this Wednesday.

Amid a reduction in operations at Ediciones Era and in response to President Claudia Sheinbaum’s instruction to review the matter, Curiel said that, together with Paco Ignacio Taibo II, director of the Fondo de Cultura Económica (FCE), they developed a proposal “in favor of reading and the book ecosystem, which begins with the writer, the publishers, and the bookstores, and reaches all the way to the reading public.”

The first measure in the set is “to request a zero tax rate for small and medium-sized bookstores.” This proposal, the official reported, was included in the Federal Revenue Law of the 2027 Economic Package that was submitted to the Congress of the Union last Tuesday.

If the Legislature approves this provision, “which I think it will, because it is a noble and important cause,” Curiel said, it would mean “a tax benefit of between 200 and 250 million pesos that will no longer be collected, but it gives oxygen directly to the entire ecosystem of the sector and represents an important relief for the independent and mid-sized effort.”

She said the zero rate for small and medium-sized bookstores, which was worked out with the Secretariat of Finance and Public Credit and the Tax Administration Service and was backed by the President, is part of “a sustainable policy and not an ephemeral fix. In that sense, it means thinking about a guild much broader than a single publisher.”

The official added that “Era is very important for its catalog, for having Mexican writers and thinkers who are relevant in our history, but there are many small and medium-sized publishers, very important ones, that could be in the same situation.”

The second measure is the launch next week of a call for proposals from the Secretariat of Culture, through the Vasconcelos Library and in collaboration with the FCE, for the bulk purchase of books this year for an amount of 50 million pesos directed at publishers.

“The call will be open for about two weeks, and then a plural reading committee will be established to nourish the libraries and part of their needs in science communication, the history of Mexico, literature, in short, several areas that we will prioritize for the public.”

The third part is an amount from the Secretariat of Culture and the FCE of between five and eight million pesos aimed at supporting small and medium-sized state book fairs, “to decentralize and strengthen the different territories in the area of reading and thus be able to diversify and strengthen the different links.”

The fourth section of the comprehensive policy, which Curiel said had already been in the works, includes the comprehensive rehabilitation of the Vasconcelos Library, which in 2026 marks 20 years of operation, with an investment of 14 million pesos for infrastructure, services, connectivity, and maintenance. Next year there will be a new phase of work at this venue.

The cultural promoter announced that from September 25 to 27 they will carry out a program at the Vasconcelos Library, with talks, illustrators, sales of books from independent publishers, concerts by Ricardo Gallardo, Tambuco, Héctor Infanzón, and orchestras, as well as the participation of many representative figures from the sector “to have a broad celebration of its 20 years with the launch of these actions.”

Curiel summarized: “President Claudia Sheinbaum gave Paco and me full backing for this comprehensive policy to support the ecosystem of reading promotion, publishers, circulation, and the strengthening of the collections of the library network.”

She stressed, “I am very happy about a comprehensive policy like this, because we are talking about an entire sector and not just a single publisher, above all, about the smallest publishers, which are the ones that make an important effort to keep going.”

“We are talking about an entire sector and not just a single publisher, above all, the smallest publishers, which are the ones that make an important effort to keep going.”

Claudia Curiel de Icaza, Secretary of Culture

The head of the Secretariat of Culture concluded that this is a set of measures that is “sustainable and not an action in the face of a crisis that merely mitigates a moment, but rather thinking about the health and strengthening in the medium and long term, among many other things that can be done, but that must continue to be worked on throughout the administration and in collaboration with the FCE.”