MEXICO: Tax Evasion Still Haunts Calderon's Revenue Efforts.

BLOOMBERG/ Long analysis/
Tax evasion cost Mexico 13 billion pesos ($1 billion) in revenue in 2009 a year while the global recession, swine flu fears and $23 billion in lost oil revenue made its economy the world's second-worst performer. In the first half of 2009, GDP fell 9.2 percent from a year earlier and contracted 6.2 percent in the third quarter. In November Calderon got tax increases to close the 2010 budget gap but the changes won't expand the tax base or wean Mexico off oil revenue says Gabriel Casillas of JPMorgan Chase.