But hold the phone.... It appears there isn't going to be a new tax after all. I have that directly from Gerard Pasanisi of TAHOA (Tanzania Hunting Operators Association) who said at press time that he had been "unofficially informed" that the entire tourist industry was exempt from the tax. To be sure, there is a long step between being "unofficially informed" and seeing this change gazetted, but we take Pasanisi very seriously. We do not think clients headed toward Tanzania this year will have to pay the tax.
Ultimately, when push comes to shove, we doubt if anyone headed anywhere in Africa is going to have to pay these new Value Added Taxes, because they fly in the face of world opinion about the right of governments to impose taxes on visitors. All over the world - from Spain to Canada - governments have erected major bureaucracies that do nothing but rebate Value Added Taxes collected on tourist purchases. Quite simply, no one funds governmental operations by taxing tourists. The sooner this idea runs its course in Africa the better.
........(continued)
