378,000 entrepreneurs

There are 378,000 licensed entrepreneurs in Cuba, Granma reports, citing figures for the beginning of June.  At the beginning of March the figure was 371, 200, and less than two years ago there were about 143,000.  If the growth of small entrepreneurs is slowing, then the next spurt in private sector employment may have to come from non-farm cooperatives, which are in the pilot project stage.

The Granma article is about tax administration and the burden of processing returns from so many new taxpayers.  In Cuba as here, irregularities in your return sometimes result in an audit. In general, the article says tax compliance is good; 90.5 percent of returns were in on time.