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NEWS AND VIEWS THAT IMPACT LIMITED CONSTITUTIONAL GOVERNMENT

"There is danger from all men. The only maxim of a free government ought to be to trust no man living with
power to endanger the public liberty." - - - - John Adams

Monday, November 7, 2011

Cuba legalizes private real estate sales


A free market in private property is coming to Communist Cuba.


Communist Cuba and China are adopting capitalism and wealth while the United States under Comrade Obama plunges into Socialism and poverty.



Cuba announced it would allow its residents to buy and sell real estate for the first time since the revolution, in yet another bold free-market reform that effectively legalizes a practice Cubans have been secretly engaging in for years.

Cuba announced Thursday it will allow real estate to be bought and sold for the first time since the early days of the revolution, the most important reform yet in a series of free-market changes under President Raul Castro.

Communist Cuba has been moving toward economic freedom.  See our August article  THE FEDERALIST - "Communist Cuba embraces Capitalism while the USA embraces Communism." 

The law, which takes effect Nov. 10, applies to citizens living in Cuba and permanent residents only, according to a red-letter headline on the front page of the Communist Party daily Granma and details published in the government’s Official Gazette, reports France 24.

The law limits Cubans to owning one home in the city and another in the country, an effort to prevent the accumulation of large real estate holdings. It requires that all real estate transactions be made through Cuban bank accounts so that they can be better regulated, and says the transactions will be subject to bank commissions.

Sales will also be subject to an 8 percent tax on the assessed value of the property, paid equally by buyer and seller. In the case where Cubans exchange homes of equal value in a barter agreement, each side will pay 4 percent of the value of their home.

“This is a very big step forward. With this action the state is granting property rights that didn’t exist before,” said Philip J. Peters, a Cuba analyst at the Lexington Institute in Arlington, Virginia. “If you think about it from the point of view of a Cuban family, it converts their house from a place to live into a source of wealth or a source of collateral. It’s an asset that can now be made liquid.”

Cuban exiles will not be allowed to purchase property on the island since they are not residents. Still, they will be able to send money to help relatives buy new homes, and there was speculation some might try to buy homes themselves through frontmen, something the government would likely try to prevent.

Castro has also allowed citizens to go into business for themselves in a number of approved jobs - everything from party clowns to food vendors to accountants - and has pledged to streamline the state-dominated economy by eliminating half a million government workers.

Cuba’s government employs more than 80 percent of the workers in the island’s command economy, paying wages of just $20 a month in return for free education and health care, and nearly free housing, transportation and basic foods. Castro has said repeatedly that the system is not working since taking over from his brother Fidel in 2008, but he has vowed that Cuba will remain a socialist state.


While back in the USA Comrade Obama, backed by his Socialist Democrats,
is taking us down the road to the re-distribution of wealth and poverty.


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1 comment:

Condo Amherst NH said...

Buying a new house or property is one of the biggest investments you will make and should be taken seriously.