The Tax Man and his Aladdin’s Lamp

The Tax Man and his Aladdin's Lamp / Gladys Linares

Posted on March 1, 2014



HAVANA, Cuba. — In 2010, Elvira was dismissed from her workplace. She

had no option other than to get a license and open a snack-bar in her

home in order to support her mother and son. She started selling coffee,

soft drinks and sandwiches. She remarks that working for herself was

more convenient, and she believed that she owed nothing to anyone

because every month she duly paid her taxes.



Nevertheless, when she heard talk for the first time about the sworn

statement about personal income as part of the "perfection" of the Cuban

economic model, she never imagined what would happen to her: one fine

day, they notified her that she owed nine thousand pesos national

currency in debt to the tax authorities, and 500 in fines for fraud in

her sworn statement, a total of 380 CUC [around $400 USD, close to two

year's average income in Cuba], hard currency and unattainable.



On inquiring at the Office of National Tax Administration (ONAT), the

responses she received left her bewildered. According to the official,

in order to monitor the sworn statement, they consider the work hours,

quantity of products sold and their prices, as well as the place where

the snack-bar is located.



Elvira asked how they could know all that, and the worker replied that

the evaluation might be direct or indirect. "You may know that we

observe you, but equally we have the option of evaluating you without

your knowing." And she added that if she did not agree, she could

complain. Elvira, getting to her feet, told her: "I see now that you

all get information from Aladdin's Lamp." Today she is thinking of

turning in her license and working under the table, but first she must

devise a way to pay the debt.



A carrier who did not want to reveal his name said that he turned in his

license more than three months ago because "the streets are in a very

bad state, and I barely earned enough to buy tires and fix the car." In

spite of that, a short while ago they notified him of a tax debt of 30

thousand pesos national currency, some 1,200 CUC.



One of the topics that lately has caused a commotion among the people is

the great quantity of money the self-employed have to pay by way of

taxes and fines.



Julio, an honest and enterprising neighbor, closed his private

restaurant and turned in his license some time ago. He says that when

the matter of the sworn statement about personal income began at the end

of the year, he did not understand why, if all those months he paid 10%

of his income, he had to pay again at year's end.



"Marino Murillo said," complains Julio, "that the payment to the tax

system is to diminish the inequalities among the citizens. And I say

what must be done for that is to take away privileges from the leaders,

officials and their families, who are the ones who live well in this

country, at the expense of Cubans."



Cubanet, February 27, 2014, Gladys Linares



Translated by mlk.



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