Don’t tax texters: tax phonemakers

THE suggestion by Mary White of the Greens that a tax be placed on mobile phone texting raises the issue of tantalum, a refined metallic ore from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) used as a high power capacitor in cell phones.

The war in the Congo has claimed up to five million lives and has been described by Time magazine as the most lethal conflict since the Second World War. Gross violations of human rights, especially mass rape, continue in the east of that country.

Much of the cause of the conflict there has been fuelled by the outside world’s demand for its diamonds, tin, copper but especially this mineral known locally as coltan which is used in every hi-tech gadget and instrument.