Fiscal Policies and Microcredit for Relief of the Poor

Abstract

Relief for the poor began to be financed by taxes in 1601 with the Poor Law of England, thus beginning the process of turning charity into public policy. The making policies to combat poverty is currently considering that access to credit allows the poor, whit a planned scheme, to accumulate capital; from that perspective, microcredit is incorporated as a poverty reduction strategy, based on successful experiences in different parts of the world, especially in anti-poverty programs promoted by international organizations. Microcredit as a poverty reduction strategy, emerges strongly in the last three decades of the twentieth century, since microcredit programs access is considered can function as a support mechanism to correct the unequal distribution of assets. Microcredit programs are aimed mainly at poor women, so that they affect the economic empowerment of women and the reduction of gender inequality and; at least in their public discourse, microcredit contribute to create opportunities for that poor people to increase their assets and thereby their insertion in the market. To provide financial resources to microcredit programs is necessary that countries such as Mexico have better tax policy.