Billionaire Salinas Reaches Tax Deal With Mexican Government

Ricardo Salinas, founder and chairman of Grupo Salinas SA de CV, during an interview at the company headquarters in Mexico City, Mexico, on Friday, Feb. 26, 2025. Photo by Luis Antonio Rojas /Photographer: Luis Antonio Rojas

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(Bloomberg) — Mexican billionaire Ricardo Salinas Pliego’s companies on Thursday promised to pay 32 billion pesos ($1.87 billion) to the government, capping a decade-long dispute over tax claims.

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In a separate statement, Mexico’s tax authority said a business group agreed to pay an upfront payment of 10.4 billion pesos and will pay the rest in 18 installments.

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The move lifts a weight that had been hanging over Salinas, whose net worth took a big hit after the stock of his flagship appliance dealer and bank Grupo Elektra collapsed in 2024 after a trading suspension. He has been planning to soon take the company private.  

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Grupo Salinas companies have paid more than 300 billion pesos in taxes in the last 20 years, Luciano Pascoe, head of news at the group, said in a statement. He said the payment was more than an agreement hatched with the previous administration.

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“From now on, we owe the government nothing, for any reason whatsoever,” Pascoe wrote.

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Salinas, who also controls the nation’s No. 2 broadcaster TV Azteca SAB and closely held fiber optic, energy and security companies, had argued the government was trying to charge him twice, but he never explained the details of the tax dispute. The government, which is barred by law from disclosing details of tax cases, argued he had been abusing deductions.

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The claims stem from audits from 2008 to 2013 and litigation over the claims began last decade. However, former-President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador had instigated a crackdown on tax evasion, where officials pushed hard on audits sitting in the drawers from the previous administration. 

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Even though Salinas had been a favored businessman by Lopez Obrador at the start of his administration, the two eventually broke and Salinas criticism of the government as corrupt and inept grew though his social media account.

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President Claudia Sheinbaum had stepped up calls for the magnate to pay his tax dues since taking office near the end of 2024.

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Late last year, Salinas launched a political movement against the current administration, sparking speculation of a presidential run in 2030.

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Lawyers for the billionaire had fought the cases to the Supreme Court. But a new slate of justices, mostly with links to the ruling party, ruled in November that lower court rulings against Salinas should stand.

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The government delivered this month Salinas’s companies a bill for 51 billion pesos in claims, but said the amount could see a discount of up to 39%, depending on the proposed payment plan.

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—With assistance from Gonzalo Soto.

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(Updates with additional background throughout)

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