From My War With Communism, Miguel Ydígoras Fuentes,1963

In 1958 we received a visit from a commission from the International Monetary Fund. The Fund was established in Bretton Woods in 1942 and from it grew the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development : better known as the World Bank, of which Mr. Eugene Black . . . was president.

A study of our economic situation resulted in a warning that our expenditures should be reduced by $5 million, by reduction in personnel in certain departments, but not in work projects, such as building and public roads. It was also recommended that we should increase our receipts by creating an income tax which would produce $5 or $6 million a year, and by thus increasing our receipts on the one hand and decreasing our expenditures by . . . we would have actually increased our available funds. . . . I was counseled to avoid internal loans because these had caused inflation wherever they had been used extensively. I was advised to borrow as much money as I could outside of Guatemala, on long and short term conditions.

I immediately put the matter up to the people. A vigorous publicity campaign placed the facts before everybody and we began to study the budget to put into effect the recommended reductions.

Unfortunately, the matter became a political question. Even those political parties that had helped me become president feared to support these necessary measures, afraid they would lose popularity. Congress flatly refused to approve the reduction in the budget. At the same time, it refused to approve the Income Tax Law, and another law which was to increase the land tax from 3 per cent to 6 per cent per $1,000 evaluation per year.

A certain percentage of the population of Guatemala — made up of professionals, entrepreneurs, businessmen, manufacturers, tradesmen, and government employees, — were enjoying a good standard of living and substantial incomes. All this numerous body were alarmed, because for the first time in the 500 years of Guatemalan history, their incomes were threatened with reductions by a direct tax . . .  They looked to the future and saw the modest demands of the proposed tax as a threat of prohibitive taxes in the future.

Such was the alarm created by the threat of "taxes" that heretofore peace-loving citizens and professionals, who had never paid one cent to help support the government, rallied behind every revolutionary suggestion. My name became anathema. so great were the repercussions, that the only benefit the country received for four years from my tax proposals were a series of uprising, disorders, strikes and subversive movements — for the wily politicians of the Left, at the service of their masters in Moscow, soon turned the discontent to their advantage. Despite my repeated pleas to the legislators the proposed taxes were not approved until November 24, 1962, and provoked an uprising . . .

( pages 77-8 )

Comment :   Strange. The above data are entirely new to me. I note that taxation on incomes is one of the key articles in the Communist Manifesto by Marx and Engels. Contradictions apparent here or there, one keeps in mind that when considering anything Bolshevik, "the lie is normal and the truth is abnormal" (an American Ambassador in Moscow 1930's). — (WPT)

 

On the night of the 23rd of October, 1962, the Guatemalan congress finally approved the Income Tax Law, which had been under study since 1959. this was achieved in a historic seventy-two hour session and after much opposition. This was the last link needed for Guatemala to qualify to participate in the program of the Alliance for Progress. The bilateral Guatemalan-United States agreement guaranteeing United States� investments in Guatemala against freezing and expropriation had been approved in September (this agreement had been followed by protest demonstrations . . .

What followed the approval of the Income Tax Law was far more extreme.

I had known that both civilians and military were again plotting an uprising. The firs word we had of this came from Cuba. . . .

. . .

. . . many people of comfortable economic positions were unhappy ; because in Guatemala, during it s entire 141 years of independence, they and their families had never paid one cent in income tax. They now saw a threat in the laws that reformed the tenure of property in Guatemala and the holding of fallow lands and, of course, the Income Tax Law.

The activities of the different groups shaped up into a conspiracy . . .

( pages 223 - 225 )

Englewood Cliffs, N. M. : Prentice-Hall, 1963.

Guatemala. President (1957-1963 : Yd�goras Fuentes) Title Consolidaci�n de la Doctrina de Monroe, propuesta a los pueblos de las Am�ricas, por la Rep�blica de Guatemala, en Centro Am�rica por intermedio de la Organizaci�n de Estados Americanos (O.E.A.) Publisher Guatemala [Tip. Nacional, 1963] Description 15 p. port. 21 cm. Language Spanish Note Cover title.

Conference Reuni�n de Presidentes de Centroam�rica, Panam� y Estados Unidos de Am�rica (1963 : San Jos�, Costa Rica) Title [Discursos de los Presidentes y los decretos. Publisher San Jos�, C.R., Impr. Vargas] 1963. Description 122 p. 22 cm. Language Spanish Note Cover title.

Yd�goras Fuentes, Miguel. Title My war with communism, as told to Mario Rosenthal. Publisher Englewood Cliffs, N.J., Prentice-Hall [1963] Description 238 p. illus. 22 cm. Language English

Guatemala. President (1958- : Yd�goras Fuentes) Title Informe del Presidente de la Rep�blica, General e Ingeniero Miguel Yd�goras Fuentes al Congreso de la Rep�blica al inaugurarse sus sesiones ordinarias. Publisher Guatemala : [Tip. Nacional], 1959. Description 112 p. ; 23 cm. Language Spanish Note "Errata" (1 leaf) inserted.

M�xico y Guatemala reanudan sus relaciones diplom�ticas con el prop�sito com�n de favorecer el bienestar y el progreso de sus pueblos / con una breve introducci�n sobre M�xico y Guatemala en la historia, la cultura y la pol�tica y comentarios de prensa alusivos. Publisher [M�xico : Editorial La Justicia, 1959] Description 35 p. ; 23 cm. Series Documentos para la historia de un gobierno ;19 Language Spanish Note At head of title: Adolfo L�pez Mateos, Miguel Ydigoras Fuentes. Speeches delivered on Sept. 15, 1959 on the renewal of diplomatic relations between Mexico and Guatemala.

Ydi�goras Fuentes, Miguel. Title Cartas a Herna�ndez de Leo�n. Publisher Guatemala : [Secretaria de Informacio̲n, Presidencia de la Repu̲blica, Editorial Luz, 1959 ?] Description 52 p. 23 cm. Language Spanish Note Cover title. Subject Ydi�goras Fuentes, Miguel. Herna�ndez de Leo�n, Federico, 1883-

Guatemala. President (1957-1963 : Yd�goras Fuentes) Title Oraci�n de los destinos de Guatemala en la hora presente del mundo. Publisher Guatemala, C. A. [Tip. Nacional de Guatemala] 1958. Description 23 p. 28 cm. Language Spanish Note Cover title.

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Yd�goras Fuentes, Carmen. Title Compendio de la historia de la literatura y artes de Guatemala. Imprint Guatemala, Editorial del Ministerio del Ministerio de Educaci�n P�blica "Jos� de Pineda Ibarra," 1959. Edition 5. ed. Descript 267 p. 21 cm.