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consisted of an annual tax of 10 F. CFA per hectare,
payable during the period during which the "chantier" is
exploited. This tax is comparable with the land rental
payable in Liberia and which in general amounted to 10
4 per acre (an area of 6,175 acres would thus result in
Liberia in land rental payments of about $ 618, and
about $ 110 in Ivory Coast). Further, a "Felling Tax"
("Taxe d'Abattage") which was a discriminatory tax
Varying from 300 F.CFA to 100 F.CFA for export logs,
according to species, and from 150 F-CFA to 50 F.CFA
for logs used for local processing, also according to
species. And finally, a "Public Works Levy" ("Travaux
d'Interet General") of 400,000 F.CFA per "chantier".
(II) Export taxes: these were (i) an Export Tax ("Droit
Unique de Sortie") which was levied as a percentage of
the "Valeur Mercuriale" - the latter approximating the
per cubic meter f.o.b. value of the species - and
regularly adjusted in response to rising log prices.
These Export Tax percentages varied at the end of 1974
between 33-3 per cent and 22.3 per cent, according to
species category. Sipo e.g. was in this category
charged with an 33-3 per cent export tax. It is worth
mentioning that this arrangement not only served to
make the export of certain species in round log form
prohibitively expensive but also to encourage their
local processing - a characteristic of the forestry
sector which was missing in Liberia, (ii) a Port Tax
("Taxe de Port") which was based on the.density of
each species per cubic meter and varied between % 0«33
and $ 0.60 per cubic meter, (iii) a Levy for the Centre
for Ivorian External Commerce and Stevedores
("Prelevement pour le Conseil Ivoirien des Chargeurs et
le Centre Ivoirien du Commerce Exterieur") amounting to
approximately 0.6 per cent of the "Valeur Mercuriale"
per cubic meter (62).
A comparison of total taxes payable In the Ivory Coast and in
Liberia of species exported in round log form, as of October
1974, showed only one species which was taxed (slightly) higher
in Liberia. (See Table 26).
THE TIMBER COMPANIES
An attempt has been made by the present author to list all timber
companies which had concluded concession agreements with the
Liberian Government. In view of the chaotic, i complete and
dispersed files containing documentation and information on said
companies this idea had to be given up. Another Table has instead
been made presenting 33 companies which exploited the country's
rich forests on the basis of a timber concession agreement in the
1957 - 1977 period. The list is based on documents found in the