• Submitted by: manso
• Business and Economy
• 09 / 02 / 2010

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Expanding a private retail experiment from eastern Cuba to the entire country, the government indirectly legalized roadside sales stands selling agricultural products at unregulated prices.

In Resolution 206 published in the Gaceta Oficial Aug. 27, the Ministry of Finance announced it will raise a 5-percent sales tax on “kiosks and sales points located in communities adjacent to roads and highways.” The roadside stand owners must be supervised by a state agricultural entity or agricultural cooperative, according to the resolution.

The business owners can only sell products grown on their own farm or backyards, unless they are produced by another agricultural entity in areas difficult to access. Sales must be registered daily, and taxes must be paid monthly. The state also charges a 2-percent fee for the use of state-owned right-of-way, and the business owners must deduct 25 percent for Social Security.

The roadside sales points are a potential outlet and additional source of income for a fast-rising number of private farmers. In an effort to boost food production, the government has turned over more than 1 million hectares of state agricultural land under long-term leases to private farmers and cooperatives; roughly half of the land is dedicated to cattle, and the other half to cultivating crops. However, bottlenecks in the state-operated distribution system are still causing crop losses.

More than half of the new farmers are younger than 35, according to the Juventud Rebelde daily.

Source: www.cubastandard.com/2010/09/01/government-legalizes-private-roadside-st...