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| Dr. Togba-Nah Tipoteh |
Upon hearing the results of the recently held Council of Chiefs meeting in Nimba County pointing out, among other points, the need to reintroduce the Hut Tax, Dr. Togba-Nah Tipoteh, Founding Leader of the Movement for Justice in Africa (MOJA), issued a Statement immediately declaring NEVER AGAIN to the Hut Tax. In his Statement, made over the weekend, Dr. Tipoteh, an internationally renowned economist, said that the Hut Tax is regressive and, therefore, it would increase the already longstanding and widespread poverty in Liberia.
By terming the Hut Tax regressive, Dr. Tipoteh means that the Hut Tax helps the few rich people at the expense of the masses of poor people. According to Dr. Tipoteh, a regressive tax requires the rich, who have more money, to pay low taxes while the poor, who have less and no money, have to pay high taxes. The Council of Chiefs and others who favor the Hut Tax always defend their position by saying that poor people do not have to pay much money, as during the Tolbert regime when this amount was USD1million (one million United States dollars); but Dr. Tipoteh emphasized that the people living in huts have no money and trying to get money from them is like trying to get water out of rock.
Dr. Tipoteh pointed out that the Council of Chiefs is making the same mistake that many economists, lawmakers and other State managers continue to make by downplaying the non-money aspect of the cost of any action or law. He went on to say that the larger part of the cost of any action or law is the non-money aspect, as in the demoralization, repression, the brutality and the murdering of hut dwellers, well known in the history of the collection of the Hut Tax in Liberia.
Dr. Tipoteh said that the best way to use knowledge is to use it to prevent problems, especially societal problems, and this is precisely why he led the successful Campaign saying NEVER AGAIN TO THE HUT TAX, beginning in the early 1970s, indicating that collection of the Hut Tax is violence-oriented and could lead to civil war. Dr. Tipoteh was correct in his advice to the government that did not listen and the Civil War came, killing ten per cent of the people of Liberia, mainly poor people, and destroying billions of dollars of economic structures to the point that the Liberian economy has not recovered as yet to the pre-war levels, especially in the major production sectors.
In conclusion, Dr. Tipoteh insists that in the midst of longstanding and widespread corruption, that has moved from number one public enemy to the vampire devouring everything in sight, progressive taxation rather than regressive taxation is the way forward for the better. Progressive taxation makes the people who have more money to pay high taxes, the people who have little money to pay low taxes and the vast majority of the people, who live in huts, to pay no taxes. However, Dr. Tipoteh stressed that unless there is a publicly visible movement towards the elimination of the longstanding and widespread corruption, more taxes, and more public money will increase corruption!
Finally, Dr. Tipoteh declared that it is impossible to end the corruption and poverty problem when the Constitution of Liberia continues to be violated through the existence of an unconstitutional electoral system, where the Chairman of the National Elections Commission (NEC) and other State managers are citizens of the United States of America and other countries, thereby making elections in Liberia UNFAIR. From the viewpoint of Dr. Tipoteh, action can be taken now to transform the electoral system to conform with the Constitution of Liberia by taking the necessary corrective constitutional measures before holding the upcoming senatorial elections. It is only through FAIR elections, Dr. Tipoteh concluded, that the State leadership/State managers can be elected to use progressive taxation to transform the present longstanding and widespread corruption and poverty generating system to conform with the constitutional Mandate of the people of Liberia for sustainable better living conditions.
Signed: Robert Cummings, II
Media Affairs Director
Cell: 231-886-600-567