U.S. Agrees to Share Census Data with Mexico for Tax Enforcement Reasons

On September 11, 2004, several Congressional Democrats raised concerns about the decision by the Bush Administration to share data collected by the Census Bureau on U.S. exports to Mexico in order for Mexico to act against tax evasion and fraud by Mexican importers. The Census Bureau, an agency of the Commerce Department, will provide information on whether the description of goods that was provided by Mexican importers to their government matches the descriptions provided to the U.S. government by U.S. exporters. U.S. law precludes the Census Bureau from disclosing export information unless the secretary of commerce deems it to be in the "national interest." Secretary Donald L. Evans has made a finding of "national interest" in this case...[more]