Monday, December 6, 2010
A Bottled-Water Drama In Fiji
Surprisingly, Fiji water does come from Fiji! It is also Fiji's number one export in dollar value. However, recently the military government has demanded the company pay a 15 cent per liter tax, compared to the 1/3 of a cent tax in previous years. The Government even threatened to take Fiji's water wells and their rights to sell the water. Fiji's holdout did not last long as they agreed to pay the tax and maintain ownership. The Fijian government will defiantly benefit from this tax increase and hopefully the 50% of Fijians that do not have access to healthy water will also benefit.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
4 comments:
We are putting such a strong emphasis on going "green" today and with consumers wanting only that and sellers wanting to meet that high demand, governments are using all this to their advantage by taxing companys like Fiji. They know that if Fiji wants to stay in business, they will be the tax or risk being shut down.
It is sad that Fiji's #1 export is spring water and 50% of Fijians do not have access to a healthy water supply. Fiji water is owned by American billionaires and little of the company's profit does anything to develop the islands.
I agree with Ben. Hopefully the proceeds from this tax benefit the people of Fiji who could use the assistance. Maybe this is one military government that is acting for social justice.
well, i hope it will be good for the people of fiji. when tax is applied on a producer, sometimes most of that tax can be passed onto consumers (hello there public finance students). if we (the americans) who drink fiji are not very sensitive to price changes of bottled fiji water, then we will be paying more in the store for each bottle. if, however, we choose to lower quantity demanded because of higher prices, then some Fijians will most likely lose a job. but, i guess the fijian government can compensate them from taxes raised on water. oh, if it only worked that way...
Post a Comment