Nominally, the import duties are moderate, so much so that Bolivia is sometimes called a " free-trade country," but this is a misnomer, for in addition to the schedule rates of io to 40% ad valorem on imports, there are a consular fee of i-% for the registration of invoices exceeding 200 bolivianos, a consumption tax of 10 centavos per quintal (46 kilogrammes), fees for viseing certificates to accompany merchandise in transit, special " octroi " taxes on certain kinds of merchandise controlled by monopolies (spirits, tobacco, &c.), and the import and consumption taxes levied by the departments and municipalities.
Certain older standards remain in common use, notably the quintal (of 101.4 lb avoirdupois), the libra (1.014 lb as-oirclupois), the arroba (31/2 imperial galluns for wine, 23/4 imperial gallons for oil), the fanega (11/2 imperial bushels).
In the interior and in all domestic transactions the old Spanish weights and measures are still used - including the Spanish libra of 1.102 lb avoirdupois, the arroba of 25 libras (122 kilogrammes), the quintal of Too libras (50 kilog.), the carga of 250 libras (125 kilogs.), the vara of 80 centimetres, and the fanega.
The average yearly product is about 70,000,000 lb, worth approximately £1,300,000, and subject to an export duty of one gold dollar (4s.) per quintal (101 lb).
This treaty was never ratified, and four years later General Hilarion Daza, who had succeeded Dr Frias as president in 1876, demanded as the price of Bolivia's consent that a tax of 10 cents per quintal should be paid on all nitrates exported from the country, further declaring that, unless this levy was paid, nitrates in the hands of the exporters would be seized by the Bolivian government.