Tsunami Relief Confiscated as "Taxes"
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In honor of Downtown Lad's Sri Lankan vacation, let's all get furious at Sri Lanka:
An important lesson as we debate aid to Africa (which has more despots per capita than anywhere else, at any time in human history) or our funding of that ultimate "theater of the absurd, decomposing corpse, and insane asylum," the United Nations.
Hat tip to Samizdata.
Oxfam has had to pay £550,000 in customs duty to the Sri Lankan government for importing 25 four-wheel-drive vehicles to help victims of the tsunami, The Daily Telegraph has learned.A useful if sad case study. In the modern era nations are poor for one and only one reason: because their leaders are either totally incompetent or — far more often — totally evil.
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Oxfam said it had "no choice" but to pay the exorbitant 300 per cent import tax or face further delays to its relief operation.
Sources said that when Oxfam officials tried to reason with the government, the ministry of finance offered three options: pay the duty, re-export the vehicles or hand them over to a ministry of their choice.
An important lesson as we debate aid to Africa (which has more despots per capita than anywhere else, at any time in human history) or our funding of that ultimate "theater of the absurd, decomposing corpse, and insane asylum," the United Nations.
Hat tip to Samizdata.
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17 June 2005
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