Counterfeit sales soar online

MXPE Weekly Essentials ft. tax collection slowing, Mexico City’s many criminal arrests, and other highlights in Mexican politics, policy, and markets from the past week.

MXPE Weekly Essentials. Only the most important news in Mexican politics, policy, and markets from the past week.

Last week’s highlights:

• Diminished returns—Another year, another increase in the Mexican State’s tax receipts, but something’s changed. Although the first two months of the year showed record collection, the increase was only 2.6% greater than the first two months of 2025 (which had seen an increase of 10.1% from 2024). This is markedly less than any year since the pandemic.
  
  The numbers are still better than what the government estimated it would collect given the strong economic headwinds Mexico is facing. These include a 1.1% fall in manufacturing output and a 3.5% fall in consumer spending last month—the latter being the worst February fall since 2018.
  

• Surfing the high seas of online piracy—The sale of counterfeit goods has