Taxes and fees collected from artisanal loggers are not always legal

Taxes and fees collected from artisanal loggers are not always legal

DR Congo - 21 October, 2015

In DR Congo, artisanal loggers complain of the multiple charges and taxes they pay. It seems that the origin and nature of certain taxes and fees are not clear. In 2015, TBI DR Congo conducted a study to list the fees collected from the artisanal loggers. It has been found that a total of 27 fees are collected from which 21 are legal and 6 are illegal.

The legal fees are taxes and other administrative costs related to the artisanal logging. Whereas illegal fees are those charged by some state officials without a legal basis and the charges are: intelligence tax, migration tax, road tax, security tax, mission fees and the circulation permit of wood.

During a workshop organized by TBI DR Congo on 10 july 2015 a document listing all the taxes collected from artisanal logging was presented to different stakeholders and approved as the reference directory.

Barriere.jpgThe public servants that were invited to the workshop, were indignant by the dishonest behavior of their agents who collect fees not established by the law and promised to take drastic measures to stop these practices.

The directory of taxes was distributed among artisanal loggers during an awareness campaign organized by TBI DR Congo in the city of Kisangani and in 6 territories of Province Orientale (Isangi, Ubundu, Bafwasende, Mambasa, Mahagi and Aru) in September 2015. The beneficiaries have promised to use this document to stop illegal charges which they are victim of.

This activity is part of the project: “VPA-FLEGT: Associations of artisanal loggers at the service of legality and economic efficiency for all”.

 

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Inventory of taxes and charges for the artisanal logging sector

In DR Congo, artisanal loggers complain of the multiple charges and taxes they pay. It seems that the origin and nature of certain taxes and fees are not clear, therefore artisanal loggers are not willing to pay for these fees. According to the national legislation, all state taxes should be established by a legal instrument issued by a competent authority.

TBI DR Congo conducted a study to list the fees collected from the artisanal loggers. It has been found that a total of 27 fees are collected from which 21 are legal and 6 are illegal. Among the legal fees are taxes and other administrative costs related to the artisanal logging. Whereas illegal fees are those charged by some state officials without a legal basis and should not be paid. The list of fees has been compiled in a document to be used by the different actors involved in artisanal logging. The document was validated by different stakeholders and have agreed on the necessity of paying legal fees and not paying illegal ones.

The study and document was produced with the aim to raise awareness of artisanal loggers to respect the legality in the context of the project "FLEGT-VPA: associations of artisanal loggers in the service of legality and economic efficiency for all," that TBI DR Congo realizes with the support of FAO and the European Union.