HAVANA: Cuba has raised duties and restricted imports on consumer goods brought in by air travellers or sent by mail, imposing greater hardship for a fledgling private sector and angering people looking to counter chronic shortages.
The new restrictions, which began yesterday, take aim at black market dealers of goods that are hard to find on store shelves or come with steep excise taxes, while protecting the state monopoly on selling imported goods.
“Nobody likes this and the people are angry,” said Silvio Madero, a Cuban-American from Homestead, Florida, who has visited his Cuban family six times over the past four years, each time bringing merchandise.
At Miami International Airport, Cubans and Cuban-Americans routinely line up for charter flights packing large-screen televisions, bicycle tyres and myriad items in short supply on the Communist-led island.
The government’s move to slow down the trade jacks up duties on the weight of mailed packages and popular items such as TVs, which now cost an additional $100 for most models. The duty is now $250 on a 32-inch (81cm) screen, $400 for those between 32 and 42 inches (106cm) and $500 on even bigger models.
Under economic reforms enacted by President Raul Castro, Cubans can operate small private restaurants, beauty parlours, bed-and-breakfast inns, transportation services and many other businesses. But there is no wholesale market, forcing entrepreneurs to import via air travellers or shop in state retail stores, where they pay a minimum 240 percent sales tax.
Some previous measures also proved highly unpopular, such as banning home 3D theatres and the private sale of imported clothes and other goods last year. Cubans welcomed an initiative to liberalise the restricted sale of new cars this year but that turned to outrage when hefty taxes meant family sedans were priced like European sports cars.
Reuters
