HAVANA, September 13 (Juan Carlos Linares / CubaNet) More and more often,
self-employed workers in Havana complain about abuses by the National Office of
Tax Administration(ONAT) inspectors, but now it seems that some entrepreneurs
receive favored treatment.
"They [referring to ONAT inspectors] made me close the small carpentry
shop where I earned a living making small repairs, and they imposed several
costly fines, because the inspectors decided that I couldn't justify the
materials I used; yet nearby a retired Interior Ministry officer operates a
car-repair shop in which he has several employees, but they don't even look in
there," complained one Santos Suárez resident, in Havana.
Regulations governing self-employment in Cuba strictly forbid hiring workers as
a mode of capitalist exploitation.
Another Havana resident says: "Across the street from where I live, a
retired police colonel has set up a driving school. He charges 10 dollars (210
pesos) for 15 days' worth of instruction and, at the end, he delivers the
license to his graduates himself."
Driving instruction is not on the list of authorized activities for
self-employed workers in Cuba.
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original en español
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