PRESENT STATUS OF FOREST TAXATION 481 



valuation shall prevail till the year 1950, at which time there shall be a 

 revaluation, but without any maximum prescribed limit, and this newly 

 determined valuation shall prevail for fifty years and be subjected to 

 the prevailing local rate of taxation. 



Classification, once having been made, shall continue as long as 

 proper forest conditions are maintained to the satisfaction of the State 

 forester. In case a classification is canceled, the owmer of the land is 

 required to pay on the stumpage value of the standing timber one-half 

 of one per cent per year for the entire number of years under classifi- 

 cation. These levies are in addition to any annual or yield tax which 

 may have been paid or may be collectible. 



Owners desiring to cut, except for domestic purposes, are required 

 to file with the local listers and the State forester a sworn statement of 

 the value of the timber to be cut. If either deems the valuation too low, 

 the State forester shall decide, subject to appeal to a board of three, 

 consisting of the first selectman, the town clerk, and the State forester. 

 Upon the gross valuation thus finally determined there is levied and 

 collected a tax of lo per cent. 



In addition to the foregoing provisions regarding classification, owners 

 of waste, partially denuded or wild forest lands of five acres or more, 

 outside of villages or cities, occupied wholly or in part by a natural or 

 planted growth of trees of more than fifteen years, or by both, which 

 lands are not suitable for cultivation, may apply to the listers of the 

 town to have such tracts separately classified for taxation purposes. 

 Upon receipt of the application for classification, the listers shall ex- 

 amine the lands, and, if satisfied that they are suitable for forests, shall 

 designate them as forest lands and set them in the grand list at the 

 valuation fixed at the last quadrennial appraisal. To this valuation the 

 annual local rate shall be applied until 1950, at which time a new valu- 

 ation shall be made of both land and timber, and this new^ valuation 

 shall be subject to the annual local rate of taxation for a period of fifty 

 years. 



Owners desiring to cut timber from such classified lands other than 

 for domestic use must give the listers at least thirty days' notice. 

 After the cutting is done, the owner must make an accurate measure- 

 ment or count and file the same with the county clerk. Then the listers 

 shall appraise the stumpage value, and before the removal of any of 

 the timber the owner shall pay to the town treasurer one-tenth per cent 

 of such value for each year that the land has been classified, but in no 

 case shall the tax exceed 7 per cent of the valuation. When, in the 

 opinion of the listers, the trees growing on such land are mature or 



