Office of the Historian

No. 319.
Mr. Nelson to Mr. Fish.

Legation of the United States,
Mexico, June 5, 1872. (Received June 28.)
No. 578.]

Sir: Herewith 1 transmit a copy and translation (A and B) of the law passed by the Mexican congress on the 31st ultimo, fixing the estimates of receipts and expenditures for the coming fiscal year, and also approving the tariff decreed by Minister Romero on the 1st of January last. Three modifications only were made in the tariff, namely: To permit the collection of excise taxes by States; to fix the exportation duty on bullion at five per cent., and to deduct in compensation thereof ten per cent, from the tariff.

I am, &c.,

THOMAS H. NELSON.
[Inclosure.—Translation.]

Law of the tariff and the estimates.

The Congress of the Union enacts:

During the fiscal year of 1872–73, the present estimates of receipts and expenditures and the financial laws lately issued (by the Executive) shall be in force, with the following modifications:

I.
Articles 19 and 83 of the tariff of January 1, 1872, are repealed, and an excise tax amounting to 6 per cent, on the import duties shall continue to be collected in the federal district and the territory of Lower California, and divided between the federation and the respective municipal authorities, in the proportion now observed.
II.
Silver bullion and coin shall pay an export duty of 5 per cent, on its value, and gold a duty of one-half per cent, leaving intact the duties of assay, separation, and [Page 430] coinage levied upon bullion by the law of December 24, 1871, and in compensation 10 per cent, shall be deducted from the import duties established in the said tariff.
III.
The quotas of deduction fixed by article 16 of the law of December 30, 1870, are modified as follows: For estates of the first class, 6 per cent.; for the second class, 15 per cent.; and for the third class, 25 per cent.
IV.
The tolls collected in the federal district shall be modified by the Executive in accordance with the following basis:
1st.
The only duty shall be 12 per cent, upon the appraised value, or the estimated market value of the effects.
2d.
Bullion, and all articles which by the tariff in force previous to the 1st of March last were exempt from toll, shall be free from all duties, except the municipal tax, which they paid before. The same exemption shall apply to all articles brought by hand whose value shall not exceed $2.
3d.
Liquors shall continue to pay the imposts fixed by the tariff of March 1, 1872. 4th. The division and subdivision of the articles shall be regulated with the utmost clearness, in order to prevent any arbitrary decision in the collection of toll.
5th.
At the end of each fiscal year, the appraisal of values of all articles mentioned in the tariff shall be revised by the Executive, in order that the tolls may be annually in absolute harmony with the current prices in this market.

Hall of Sessions of the Congress of the Union, Mexico, May 31, 1872.

JOSE H. NUNEZ,
Deputy President.

JOSÉ PATRICIO NICOLI,
Deputy Secretary.

JOSÉ FERNANDEZ,
Deputy Secretary.

Wherefore, I order the above law to be printed, published, circulated, and duly obeyed.

Palace of the National Government in Mexico, May 31, 1872.

BENITO JUAREZ.