Cuba's Customs Tax Hikes Take Effect

Cuba's customs tax hikes took effect on Sept. 3, taking many travelers by surprise at Havana's international airport.

The hike announced a month ago forced passengers to pay hundreds of dollars in taxes on products they had purchased abroad, according to media reports.

Before the new customs taxes went into effect, travelers only paid about 0.50 U.S. cents per kilo for excess baggages. But now Cuba's cash-strapped government is levying a charge of 10 dollars for per extra kilo baggage.

Cuba allows passengers to bring in 30 kilograms of luggage without being charged. Anything over that gets taxed though there are exemptions for scientific books, medicines and other medical supplies.

The new regulations also penalize travelers trying to introduce goods not entirely for personal use by stating that passengers going over "the limits of "normal" luggage will have to pay 100 percent of the original price of the products," the official daily Granma said.

Travelers who go way over the limit will have to pay 200 percent the value of the imported items, said the new regulations.

Since the country's fledgling private sector, composed mainly of small businesses such as restaurants and shops, relies heavily on imported goods, the new customs rates appear to be designed to prevent Cubans or foreign residents from starting a business without paying the necessary taxes, observers said.

The U.S.-lead economic blockade against Cuba severely restricts the availability of a wide range of goods in the island country.