Guanajuato, Mexico -- Start a Business

Another thing we see on the online forums is Americans who write of their dreams to start a business in Mexico.

This is a symptom of The Mexico is the Land of Milk and Honey Syndrome

It is similar to the type of American who grows up obsessing on becoming a Hollywood actor and who moves to California with this dream and ends up managing a Burger King. Just the very thought of the slimmest of an opportunity eggs them on. The idea that there is the slightest chance of being discovered is what keeps them going.

It is not that I am saying the is wrong to have a dream. Not at all. What I am saying is that Americans actually move here with an American Culturally conceived idea of beginning a business that appeals to Americans with not a thought in their heads as to what, if any, Mexican would be interested in their business idea and what they would be offering.

And, not just that. They will move here with no idea what legal hoops they will have to jump through to get permission from the Mexican government to begin a business. If they can't read Spanish, and statistically the majority will not be able to, how can they hope to wade through the Byzantine bureaucratic nightmare that is involved in beginning a business as a Gabacho.

They could, as a lot of Americans do, work illegally in the Mexican Republic.

Deals are even more abundant for those U.S. citizens in Mexico who choose to break the law by working without the proper permits or not paying Mexican taxes. These undocumented American workers in Mexico won't be forced to run out the back door of a restaurant when immigration officials arrive, but they may choose not to answer the door when the Hacienda (Mexico's IRS) comes knocking at their bed and breakfast to check for a lodging license or arrives at the offices where Americans deal in lucrative property investment to request to see their Mexican real estate license. - Source

Even professionals pull this act against the country in which they falsely profess to be expatriates:

The same holds true for the U.S. professionals who practice their craft within the foreign community, whether financial advising, architecture, psychotherapy, massage, or art dealing, without securing a work permit or reporting their income. As with any clandestine activity, firm data are elusive, but both Mexican officials and the expatriate community are well aware of the activity. -- IBID

Plus, you could really make a haul by not paying income tax or the hired help's Social Security tax as the law requires you to. They also come here and do that very thing. SOURCE

Cristobal Finkelstein Franyuti, director of international relations for the city, explains: "Just look on Vrbo.com [Vacation Rentals By Owner]. At least 150 houses are listed in San Miguel, and 95 percent are owned by foreigners. They are not registered as rental properties. They are not paying income tax or lodging tax. They are typically not paying Mexican Social Security to their domestic help." Franyuti estimates that unlicensed business in the city costs the local government more than four million pesos a year--an excess of $360,000 in lost taxes and fees.

Need I say another word?