Forestry taxation in Africa
Subtitle: the case of Liberia
By: prepared by Arnim Schwidrowski and Saji Thomas.
Contributors: Thomas, Saji.; International Monetary Fund. African Dept.
Series: IMF working paper -- WP/05/156
Publisher: International Monetary Fund, African Dept.
Published: 2005
Place of publication: Washington, D.C
Language: eng
Number of pages: 26
Subjects: Forests and forestry -- Taxation -- Liberia.; Forest products -- Taxation -- Liberia.; Taxation -- Liberia.
Description: Countries generally tax the forestry sector to achieve the twin objectives of revenue maximization and sustainability of logging levels. In an ideal world of perfect markets and information, auctions would be the best instrument to determine the price of extraction rights. However, a number of factors-including a lack of information on the forest resources under consideration, uncertainties as to the stability of property rights over time, and a lack of access to credit-have limited the use of auctions so far, particularly in low-income countries. To establish transparency of the forestry sector's financial flows, this paper discusses a radical simplification of Liberia's current timber tax structure, including a proposal to reduce the sector's current tax system to two instruments, an area tax and an export tax.
Notes: "August 2005."

Includes bibliographical references (p. 14).

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