• Submitted by: manso
• Business and Economy
• 12 / 18 / 2010

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Top News: The Raúl Castro government plans to gradually impose new taxes on everything from salaries, to land, to utilities, the local media reported following the second day of the National Assembly meeting.

The comments came from Cuban Finance Minister Lina Pedraza, who said that the taxes would help offset expenditures on health, education and defense. Pedraza also said the taxes would serve to avoid concentration of wealth, as entrepreneurship is reintroduced into Cuban society.

Cuba's legislators discussed the proposals contained in the "Guidelines for Economic and Social Policy" released earlier this year by the government to serve as the basis for discussion of economic reform at the Communist Party congress in April.

Economic Minister Marino Murillo began the session by presenting a bleak picture of the Cuban economy, according to a report by Cuban wire service Prensa Latina. The U.S. embargo, problems with infrastructure, the damage from 16 hurricanes over the last 12 years, the world economic crisis and the aging of the Cuban populace combine to paint a portrait of an economy that faces multiple challenges, according to Murillo.

According to Cuban state media, legislators presented more than 700 ideas for changes that formed the basis of the debate. At the time of writing, neither Cuban state media nor the foreign media had yet posted information to the Web detailing Cuban legislators' reactions to the Guidelines.


Source: //miamiherald.typepad.com/cuban_colada/2010/12/