Cuba cuts tax on $3-a-minute calls to US

Cuba cuts tax on $3-a-minute calls to US

Tax established in 2000 eliminated

Author: By Patrick Oppmann CNN

Published On: Nov 30 2012 06:56:04 PM CST

HAVANA, Cuba (CNN) -



The Cuban government on Friday reduced its expensive telephone rates

between the island and the United States.



The government is scrapping a 10% tax it imposed on calls between the

two countries in 2000, it announced.



The largest population of Cubans outside the island resides in the

United States, and calls between the two countries typically top $3 a

minute.



"A reduction in the rates to be charged for international calls will

favor an increase in international telephone communications to and from

our country," the announcement said.



The tax was implemented by then-President Fidel Castro after the U.S.

Congress froze Cuban funds in the United States generated by calls

between the two countries. The funds were used to pay compensation to

the families of three Cuban exile pilots, all U.S. citizens, who were

killed when their small planes were shot down by Cuban fighter planes in

1996.



The United States has maintained a trade embargo against Cuba for more

than 50 years. There are no formal relations between the Communist

country and the United States, which has a diplomatic mission in Havana,

and commerce is strictly controlled.



Last month, Cuba announced a change in immigration laws that would give

many Cuban exiles the ability to return to the island."



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