Further to Stigler's post of earlier, from The Daily Mail, March 2012:
The purchasing and selling of private property was legalised by President Raul Castro in Cuba last November in a bid to keep the struggling Communist state afloat.
Only citizens and permanent residents are allowed to buy properties in the Communist country but many Cuban exiles in America are entering the property markets through friends and family on the island - bumping up property prices.
Now many homes in Havana are being sold at $250 per square meter - 12 times the average monthly wage of $20...
The new property market will drastically alter everyday life on the island for its residents - with many being able to choose for the first time where they want to live.
Great, you can choose where you live, but will spend all your income forever paying for it.
And there's the usual fig leaf..
But the government has insisted no individuals will be able to accumulate great wealth through the law change as sales will be subject to taxes.
"Sales" will be subject to taxes, but not "ownership". As a result, land ownership will quickly become concentrated in relatively few hands (probably former senior government people) and without those taxes on land values, they'll raise taxes from wealth creation instead, rinse and repeat.
Fair play to Raul C for trying to liberalise the economy a bit; but the correct procedure would have been to do this (except about five times as fast, but not so fast as that US corporates pile in and take everything over), make private earnings tax free and to increase ground rents, which can go into the pot for paying for education and healthcare and stuff.
And if any emigres want "their" land back, they'd be welcome to it, provided they pay the land tax.
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