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As a consequence the export value of timber dropped from
$ 17.6 million in 1974 to $ 12.8 million in 1975. It was
officially recognized that actual exports of logs and lumber
were considerably higher than the officially reported figures.
Reasons: (1) bribery of government officials charged with the
assessment and the collection of stumpage fees (50) and (2)
understatement of production by the logging companies (51 )•
Although timber prices remained virtually stable in 1976 export
value of logs and lumber rose to $ 34-6 million. The volume of
logs exported tripled in 1976 as compared to the (reported)
volume of 1975. The declining volume of log exports in 1977 may
be attributed to a gradually increasing emphasis on the local
use of logs through wood processing activities though the
effect of the incompleteness of the export data is here
difficult to assess. In 1978 the export of logs reached a new
record level with volume of 131 million bd.ft. The export value
almost doubled in that year and amounted to $ 46.7 million
which represented nearly 10 per cent of Liberia's total
exports. Timber thus continued to be the country's third most
important export item.
Government Revenues from the Forestry Sector
In the years 1967 - 1977 timber exports totalled $ 142.0
million (disregarding here the understatement' of export
figures due to the illegal shipping of logs and sawn wood),
i.e. an average of nearly $ 13 million a year.
However, the Government's total revenues from the forestry sector
did not exceed $ 22 million in the same period, i.e. a yearly
average of about $ 2 million (see Table 25). This amount represents
about 15 percent of the value of the logs and sawn wood
(officially) exported. Taking into account the illegal export of
timber (52) and the fact that stumpage fees are assessed both on
logs exported and on logs used for local processing, the Treasury's
intake from each Liberian tree cut in the 1967 - 1977 period
may be estimated at a little over 10 percent of its value.
Prior to 1968 revenues amounted to less than $ 50,000 a year.
An indication of the relative importance of charges is that
during the FY 1967/1968 the surface rent component of revenues
from the forestry sector was about li/a.cre, and the stumpage &
tree marking fees about 38^/bd.ft- (53)- Practically no
corporate income taxes were paid by the timber concessionaires
(situation as of June 1977). Out of 33 logging companies only
one, MIM Timber Company, had paid corporate income taxes as of
June 1977. Payments had been made in two years only and the
total amount paid was about $ 175,000. One other company,
Cavalla Timber Company, was liable to pay income taxes for 1976
but had not made actual tax payments as of June 1977- The other
31 logging companies that were in active operation as of mid-
1977 had not paid any income taxes either because of income
tax exemptions granted in their concession agreements with the