A Cuban Entrepreneur Suggests…

By Carlos Garcia  (Kewelta)

HAVANA TIMES — As you all probably know, new licenses won’t be given, for the moment, to future private workers in many fields. Those of us who support others in setting up their businesses, encouraging them to launch them with the best energy possible, know that this is a very difficult measure for those who have invested a lot of money and time getting ready to put themselves out on a market that demands great quality.

I also believe that it must have been difficult for the State to have reached this point, when now they are finally publicly saying that they aren’t happy with how a framework has developed, which had been designed and more than that, needed our help to create a healthy environment.

I believe that the time has come for all of us to play our part and work together to create a better system for private work in Cuba.

It has been four months today since I contributed my two cents on the subject, I read some words out in front of legal representatives from some institutions relating to I.T, which I then published on our blog under the heading: “Document read at the 2017 TICs event about the needs of TCPs (independent workers)” http://blog.kewelta.com/2017/04/01/texto-leido-en-el-evento-tics-2017-sobre-necesidades-de-tcps/

I think that if they were to ask me which two points are the most important in improving the whole system in my opinion, I would respond the following:

• Allowing private workers to declare all of their costs! The logical thing for us to do would be to declare all of our expenses and then be taxed based on our profits, it’s important that businesses have the chance to be honest in their account books, practically nobody does this because the tax system has been poorly designed.
• Let private workers do business deals with the State! Get rid of intermediaries like associations, artists and the many companies that take advantage of this situation to charge a commission fee for representation for contracts and then they use these same contracts to evade tax on their statutory declarations.

If they were to ask me, Carlos do you have a third opinion? Yes, I do have one, get rid of the name TCP (trabajadores por cuenta propia, leave it as just private workers. The name “Independent workers” represents a state-led sector who sees those of us who work in the private sector as a threat to our sovereignty and a “necessary evil”, much further away from a reality where we can contribute to a Cuba that is progressing without signs of stopping.

Traducción: Havana Times