Overview
- In a Sept. 17 plenary ruling, the SCJN invalidated provisions in 21 municipalities of Michoacán, Durango and Guerrero that charged for delivering public information in digital formats, finding the fees violated the Article 6 gratuity principle and tax proportionality; the cases were brought by the CNDH.
- Justices noted digitization tariffs ranging from 22 to 565.70 pesos per page lacked an objective cost basis, and they urged local congresses to adopt transparent formulas to determine real service costs.
- In the Jacona, Michoacán case, the Court struck a photocopy fee that charged students 15 pesos per page versus 4 pesos for the general public, deeming the disparity disproportionate and harmful to students’ rights.
- The Court voided Tulum’s additional 5% charge on CFE electricity bills for public lighting, classifying it as an electricity consumption tax reserved to the federal Congress and reiterating that lighting service charges must reflect actual costs.
- Provisions in Coahuila that imposed municipal licensing charges tied to gas and hydrocarbon extraction were annulled on grounds that regulation of strategic resources falls under the exclusive competence of the federal legislature.