Saturday, March 29, 2014

End of the Cuba’s “Socialist” Dream

Behind closed doors where foreign media were not given access  in an extraordinary session, more than 600 deputies replaced a 1995 foreign investment law that has attracted less overseas capital than the island's Communist Party leaders had hoped, contributing to sluggish growth.

 The new legislation would cut taxes on profits by about half, to 15 percent, and make companies exempt from paying taxes for the first eight years of operation (athough an exception for companies that work in the exploitation of natural resources, such as nickel or fossil fuels, would establish taxation rates in such cases as high as 50 percent.)

Foreigners doing business with the island would be exempt from paying personal income tax. Wholly foreign-owned investment projects would be explicitly allowed, a rarity for Cuba.

Foreign investment will reportedly be allowed in all sectors, except health care and education.

Reporting from Havana, Al Jazeera's Daniel Schweimler said "Cuban officials say that the economy as it stands at the moment is not working, it is not feeding its people, and it is not providing enough resources. There are still a lot of problems to overcome in Cuba, which will be a disincentive to marny foreign companies, such as the poor internet service and heavy bureaucracy, but it's also a country of 12 million people with huge potential."

1 comment:

Gwynn said...

" [Cuba is] ... also a country of 12 million people with huge potential."

Add: "...just crying out to be further exploited for profit."