Cuba approves new tax law

HAVANA - The Cuban parliament on Monday approved a new tax law designed to cope with the country's growing private sector.

The Tax System Act, which stipulates 25 categories of taxes, will come into force in January 2013 and put an end to Cuba's current tax regime established in 1994.

Unlike its predecessor, the new tax law include articles on private-sector profits and employment, ownership of agricultural lands, land transactions, as well as personal income.

However, Cuban Finance Minister Lina Pedraza said the tax on personal incomes and housing ownership would not be implemented soon since "conditions are not yet mature."

Pedraza said the new tax law, the result of extensive consultations lasting for seven months among lawmakers, academics, and officials, was "more flexible" and would be applied "gradually" so as to ensure the national income and promote sectors conducive to socio-economic development of the country.

Cuba's private sector has witnessed rapid growth since the authorities loosened control in a bid to revitalize the country's stagnant economy.

Latest figures showed Cuba's private-sector workforce grew to 390,000 at the end of June, up nearly 3,000 from the previous month.