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I'm confused. Calling it a "facilitation payment" feels like a subcategory of bribes to me, and would be a form of corruption. Can you explain why you would s

I'm confused. Calling it a "facilitation payment" feels like a subcategory of bribes to me, and would be a form of corruption. Can you explain why you would see "facilitation payments" as not being corrupt?

NovemberWhiskey 6y ago
A facilitation payment is a payment made to an official to do their job. Real personal example: I'm trying to register my newly-purchased car with the RTO (c.f. DMV) in Bangalore. I have all the paperwork I need. The car is mine, my address details are correct, my proofs of address are sufficient, my fee is paid. Only there are continual requests for more paperwork: different proofs of address, proofs of prior addresses in other countries, proofs that are officially stamped etc etc none of which are formally necessary. On the advice of the car dealer, I paid INR 4,000 in facilitation money and suddenly the paperwork is in order and my car is registered. The official's intent is to extort me for money, but my intent is just to comply with the law that requires my car to be registered. I'm willing and able to provide all the required paperwork. My intent is not corrupt. If I was trying to register a car that was stolen, and I was paying the RTO official to overlook the inadequacies in my documentation, that would be a bribe. My intent is to pay the official not to do their job.
- spookthesunset 6y ago
  Ha. That still sounds sketchy. It would be like going to a DMV in the states to get your license and slipping a $20 to person who gives your driving test to get out of parallel parking or something.... It’s not bribing your way out of a crime or something but it is still dodgy and corrupt.
  - NovemberWhiskey 6y ago
    If you're paying someone $20 to get out of parallel parking in your driving test; that's a bribe. If you're paying someone $20 to pass your driving test after you performed a perfect parallel parking maneuver but they baselessly claimed you were "too far from the curb"; that's a facilitation payment.
  - zo1 6y ago
    A lot of "bribes" in Africa are simply to expedite things. And in a lot of cases, they unfortunately need expiditing because the officials want money and delay it unnecessarily. Still, its quite a fair bit different to giving someone money to allow your AK47 shipment to go past customs.
refurb 6y ago
Interestingly US law makes a distinction as well. You can’t bribe officials of foreigner governments, but paying money to speed up otherwise normal work said official would do is legal (to the US govt).
- mbg721 6y ago
  The US itself formalizes that for some things; you can pay an extra fee to expedite passport renewal.
  - NovemberWhiskey 6y ago
    That's different - you're paying the government to choose between different service levels; not the individual official.
rantwasp 6y ago
the US has (or used to have) this when it comes to processing certain forms/visa applications (I129, I140). it’s called premium processing. Is this corruption?
- darkarmani 6y ago
  No because it is official policy with the money going to the organization. Having it go into the pocket of the person sets up perverse incentives that depend on the person. If you get a receipt back for the "fee," it's not corrupting the process.
  - rantwasp 6y ago
    i guess. for the person paying the tax it makes little difference though. I think the predictably and up-front nature of the fee is better.

NovemberWhiskey 6y ago

A facilitation payment is a payment made to an official to do their job. Real personal example: I'm trying to register my newly-purchased car with the RTO (c.f. DMV) in Bangalore. I have all the paperwork I need. The car is mine, my address details are correct, my proofs of address are sufficient, my fee is paid. Only there are continual requests for more paperwork: different proofs of address, proofs of prior addresses in other countries, proofs that are officially stamped etc etc none of which are formally necessary. On the advice of the car dealer, I paid INR 4,000 in facilitation money and suddenly the paperwork is in order and my car is registered. The official's intent is to extort me for money, but my intent is just to comply with the law that requires my car to be registered. I'm willing and able to provide all the required paperwork. My intent is not corrupt. If I was trying to register a car that was stolen, and I was paying the RTO official to overlook the inadequacies in my documentation, that would be a bribe. My intent is to pay the official not to do their job.

spookthesunset 6y ago
Ha. That still sounds sketchy. It would be like going to a DMV in the states to get your license and slipping a $20 to person who gives your driving test to get out of parallel parking or something.... It’s not bribing your way out of a crime or something but it is still dodgy and corrupt.
- NovemberWhiskey 6y ago
  If you're paying someone $20 to get out of parallel parking in your driving test; that's a bribe. If you're paying someone $20 to pass your driving test after you performed a perfect parallel parking maneuver but they baselessly claimed you were "too far from the curb"; that's a facilitation payment.
- zo1 6y ago
  A lot of "bribes" in Africa are simply to expedite things. And in a lot of cases, they unfortunately need expiditing because the officials want money and delay it unnecessarily. Still, its quite a fair bit different to giving someone money to allow your AK47 shipment to go past customs.

refurb 6y ago

Interestingly US law makes a distinction as well. You can’t bribe officials of foreigner governments, but paying money to speed up otherwise normal work said official would do is legal (to the US govt).

mbg721 6y ago
The US itself formalizes that for some things; you can pay an extra fee to expedite passport renewal.
- NovemberWhiskey 6y ago
  That's different - you're paying the government to choose between different service levels; not the individual official.

rantwasp 6y ago

the US has (or used to have) this when it comes to processing certain forms/visa applications (I129, I140). it’s called premium processing. Is this corruption?

darkarmani 6y ago
No because it is official policy with the money going to the organization. Having it go into the pocket of the person sets up perverse incentives that depend on the person. If you get a receipt back for the "fee," it's not corrupting the process.
- rantwasp 6y ago
  i guess. for the person paying the tax it makes little difference though. I think the predictably and up-front nature of the fee is better.