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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