Bolivia's government is considering placing a tax on coca crops, reports newspaper La Razon. Vice Minister for Coca and Integral Development German Loza Navia said that the government is studying various proposals for how to implement a tax.
Coca is mainly found in two regions: Chapare in Cochabamba and Yungas in La Paz, and only to a total of 22,000 hectares (a little over 54,000 acres).
At the moment the government charges a symbolic tax of 30 bolivianos (some $4.3 dollars) on farmers, and there are tight restrictions on the transport of the leaf.
Bolivia has faced criticism that its permissive attitude to coca has encouraged more cultivation of the crop for the purpose of making cocaine.
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