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Saturday, September 03, 2016

In Cuba the tax man cometh, slowly

In Cuba the tax man cometh, slowly
By Marc Frank | HAVANA

Some 1.5 million more Cuban state workers will contribute to social
security next month, with some paying income tax for the first time
since the 1959 revolution as a law passed as part of efforts to
modernize the economy gradually goes into effect.

The workers, mainly in industry, will pay a 5 percent social security
tax on income over 500 pesos per month and income tax of 3 percent to 5
percent on earnings over 2,500 pesos per month, Cuban state media said
on Friday.

Deputy Finance Minister Meisi Bolanos Weis said the tax would be
deducted from workers' pay checks by their employers, the Communist
Party daily, Granma, reported.

With an eye to the increasing inequality that was sure to come after
President Raul Castro began implementing cautious market-oriented
reforms and reducing the role of the state in the economy, the
Communist-run island passed its first comprehensive tax code in 2012.

Cuba had abolished taxes after Fidel Castro's 1959 revolution, when
everyone began working for the state at low wages. The government then
subsidized everything from health, education, sports and culture to
food, utilities, transportation and social security.

The Caribbean nation's average monthly wage last year was 687 pesos, or
about $25 at the official exchange rate. There were 5 million in the
labor force, of which 80 percent worked for the state.

The government envisions replacing subsidies for all with targeted
welfare, meaning that the largely tax-free life under a paternalistic
government is on its way out

But the code is being implemented gradually, as "conditions permit," the
law states, with such novelties as a property tax and inheritance tax
still on hold.

Income tax was first applied to owners of small businesses, cultural
figures and Cubans working for foreign companies and more recently to
hundreds of thousands of farmers and 500,000 self-employed Cubans.

Most state workers, for example in the health and education sectors, do
not pay income tax, but over the last three years began contributing to
social security.

(Reporting by Marc Frank; Editing by Frank Jack Daniel and Frances Kerry)

Source: In Cuba the tax man cometh, slowly | Reuters -
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-cuba-reform-taxes-idUSKCN1182GS

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