Forestry taxation in Africa: the cases of Liberia and Gabon

Abstract

SUMMARY The paper focuses on mobilizing resources through forestry activity in Liberia and Gabon. It advocates the management of forests in a sustainable manner while obtaining a fair share of rents arising from their exploitation. The paper describes the performance of a generalized area tax through a bidding process for allocating concessions in Liberia and presents the status of forestry taxation in Gabon. Both countries through reform have greatly simplified the fiscal terms for the industry, and further improvements are feasible. A deepening of the reform should consider phasing out export taxation and the consolidation of an area tax and auctions for allocating concessions.