Mexico art galleries are some of several businesses suffering from drug money laws that were passed in 2012 to limit cash purchases.
The anti-money-laundering laws were designed to limit the amount of cash used by consumers and it required businesses to pass more customer information on to the government.
Businesses such as art galleries, casinos, pawn shops, car dealerships and jewelry stores are known to accept purchases from people in Mexico trying to get rid of money from illegal sales, reports Washington Post. The laws were put in place so the government could keep better tabs on illegal deals.
However, it's hurting some of the country's businesses and the economy because they rely on those purchases to make economic goals.
One gallery in the posh Lomas de Chapultepec neighborhood is experiencing sales that are down 30 percent. Owner Guillermo Zajarias blames the fall on the law that was put in place two years ago, and he says other local gallery owners agree with him, according to WP.
"It's 100 percent related to this law," Zajarias tells WP about his falling sales. "This is fiscal terrorism and it's not fair."
Fewer painting buyers with legal money are making purchases from galleries as well, according to WP reports, because they fear the government is going to sell their money and don't want them to know how much money they are spending on art.
Despite the falling sales, there are some gallery owners who still support the new law.
"I prefer that operations are clean, even though the market has fallen a bit," Cristobal Riestra, director of the OMR gallery in Roma, tells WP. "This society has to evolve into a society without cash, like in other parts of the world."
