The_Open_Door_deel1

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materials, the rights of the population within the concession
areas viz-a-viz the company's rights, the obligations of the
Government, the use of land outside the concession area(s), the
amount of rentals to be paid and related obligations, the right
of the company to construct infrastruetural and other facilities
(Accessory works and Installations"), the right to engage in
other than agricultural activities, and the export free of duties
of the company's produce, warrant therefore the same comments
which, however, will not be repeated here. Only the differences
will be - briefly - emphasised.
The concession agreement which the Liberian Agricultural Company
(LAC) obtained only differs in four aspects from BFG's concession
agreement: (i) the location of the concession area, (ii) the term
of the concession, (iii) the number of years of income tax
exemption, and (iv) most important, the restriction which was
introduced as to the free export of the company's produce.
LAC's concession areas consisted of (1) an area of land lying
between the St. John's River and the Cestos River and south of
Compound No. 3 in Grand Bassa County, approximately 300,000 acres,
and (2) a section of the lands situated along the Tappita - Webbo
road (in the then Eastern Province), also approximately 300,000
acres. As the selection of lands had never taken place and
consequently no development activities had ever been started in
the concession area in the then Eastern Province (after the
administrative reform of 1965 located in Nimba and Grand Gedeh
Counties) LAC lost its rights in this area in the early 1970's -
in conformity with Article X of the Agreement - and the company's
concession area is nowadays limited to the 300,000 acres in Grand
Bassa County (18).
Under this 70-year concession agreement, the company was granted
an income tax free period of 15 years, starting on the date it
commenced planting, and which was to be followed by a period of
ten years during which the maximum rate of income tax would be 25
per cent of the net income. At the end of the ten year period the
same income tax rate of 25 per cent would still be applied but
either party to the concession agreement would then be entitled
to a renegotiation of this rate.
LAC started planting in August 1960 and its income tax holiday
therefore expired in August 1975. The company is entitled until
1985 to pay an income tax rate of 25 per cent only, and in that
year LAC will be in the same position as BFG will have reached in
1981, when a decision on the future tax rate will have to be
made. Undoubtedly, the Government will aim at subjecting both
companies to laws 'of general application and have them pay 50 per
cent income taxes on net income above % 100,000 a year, which
would bring these companies in this respect on equal footing with
the Firestone Plantations Company, paying 50 per cent income
taxes since the change of the income tax laws in 1977, In both
cases, however, the Government will be dependent on the
willingness of these two companies to respond to such a
Tovernmental request as both concession agreements fail to have
obligations in this matter. A fourth difference as compared with