THE CUBA REVIEW 17 



It is recommended that the tax on corporate organization under the existing law 

 should not be increased and that the proposed stamp tax on the issuance of ^ock and 

 bonds should be five cents per one hundred dollars of face value, as under the laws 

 of the United States. 



(B) Acquisition and Transfer of Properties 



1.^ — Purchase atid Sale of Properties. 



(a) Existing Taxes: Under the existing law a tax of one per cent is imposed upon 

 the purchase of real property, and a tax of one half of one per cent, upon the purchase 

 of personal property. 



(b) Proposed Taxes: Under the Bill before the House of Representatives these 

 taxes are to be increased to two per cent, and one per cent., respectively, thereby doubling 

 the burden. (Paragraph A and E, Article XIV, Chapter III.) 



2. — Leases: 



(a) Existing Taxes : Under the existing law leases by public document are required 

 to pay one tenth of one per cent, of the total stipulated rent; and on leases by private 

 document a stamp tax of a maximum of one dollar is imposed. 



(b) Proposed Taxes: Under the Bill before the House of Representatives a tax 

 of one per cent, of the total stipulated rent would be imposed upon all leases, whether 

 by public or private document (Paragraph G, XIV, Chapter III), and in addition, the 

 existing stamp tax in the case of private documents would be increased to the rate of 

 ten cents for each one hundred dollars or fraction thereof of such stipulated rent 

 (Paragraph 5, Article IV, Chapter II). In other words, the ordinary tax on leases 

 would be multiplied tenfold and would be applicable to both private and public documents; 

 and the stamp tax on private documents would be heavily increased, the exact rate of 

 increase increasing with the amount of rent. 



3. — Mortgages: 



(a) Existing Taxes: The existing law imposes a tax of one quarter of one per 

 cent, on the constitution, modification, extension, recognition and cancellation of 

 mortgages, except that when cancellation is made within five years the rate is one 

 eighth of one per cent. 



(b) Proposed Taxes : Under the Bill before the House of Representatives the rate 

 of taxation on mortgages would be doubled, so as to be one half of one per cent, upon 

 the constitution, modification, extension, recognition or cancellation of the game. In the 

 case of purchase money mortgages, the tax imposed would be the tax of two per cent, 

 for the purchase and sale of land; and no additional tax would be required upon the 

 creation of the mortgage itself. 



4. — Foreclosure and Enforcement of Credits. 



(a) Existing Taxes: The existing tax on the adjudication of properties in fore- 

 closure proceedings or on sale at public auction is one per cent. 



(b) Proposed Taxes: Under the Bill before the House of Representatives the tax 

 on the adjudication of real estate would be three per cent.; and on proposed property 

 one per cent. ; and the proposed tax on the acquisition of real estate at public sale would 

 be three per cent, and on similar acquisition of personal property, two per cent. (Paragraph 

 2, Article XIV, Chapter II). 



The proposed new law also would impose a tax of one half of one per cent, upon 

 the annotation of an embargo upon the property registries, except embargoes in connection 

 with the enforcement of mortgages or in restraint of alienation. No such tax is now in 

 existence. 



COMMENTS 



From the above summary it will readily appear that the proposed law will greatly 

 increase the rate of taxation upon ordinary transactions in properties which commonly 

 take place in the history of every important business enterprise, and especially in the 

 ordinary operations of the companies. 



In all cases the taxes are at least doubled; in other cases tripled; and in the case 



