Tahiti Is a Fiscal Paradise Lost

For the first time in its history, Tahiti will have an income tax.

The Pacific island may look like paradise in the tourist brochures, but it has no social welfare system, few decent roads and a chronic lack of housing and health care.

The government of French Polynesia recently decided to set up a “territorial solidarity fund” to address these issues. The price: new taxes on wine, gasoline and telephones, a 10% levy on unearned revenue and a maximum 3% income tax.