PRESENT STATUS OF FOREST TAXATION 483 



the timber growth thereon shall be exempt from taxation, except if 

 such timber shall be cut before five years after the exemption period 

 has expired, such timber growth shall be subject to a tax of 5 per cent 

 of the estimated stumpage value at the time of cutting. Owners pro- 

 posing to make any cutting other than for thinning purposes are re- 

 quired to give thirty days' notice to the assessors, who must forthwith 

 assess the stumpage value of such proposed cutting, and such owner 

 shall pay before cutting the timber 5 per cent of such assessed valuation. 



In addition to the foregoing provisions for the exemption and reduc- 

 tion in assessment of lands planted with trees for forestry purposes. 

 New York has another law' providing for the exemption and reduction 

 in assessment of lands maintained as wood lots and to encourage the 

 growth of trees for such purposes. Both laws date from the same 

 year, 1912. 



In accordance with the provisions of the latter law, the owner of any 

 tract of land in the State, not exceeding fifty acres, which is occupied 

 by a natural or planted growth of trees, or by both, which shall not be 

 situated within twenty, ten, or five miles of the corporate limits of 

 cities of the first, second, or third class respectively, nor within one 

 mile of the corporate limits of an incorporated village, may apply to 

 the conservation commission to have such lands separately classified 

 for taxation purposes. If, after the lands are duly inspected, the com- 

 mission is satisfied that they are suitable to be classified, it shall submit 

 to the owner a plan for future management of the land and trees and 

 shall also issue a certificate of classification. 



So long as the land so classified is maintained as a wood lot and the 

 owner complies with the provisions of the law, it shall be valued for 

 taxation at not to exceed $10 per acre. In determining the value of 

 the land for purposes of taxation, the assessor shall not take into ac- 

 count the value of the trees growing thereon, nor shall such lands be 

 assessed at a value greater than other similar lands within the same 

 district which contains no forest or tree growth are assessed. Similar 

 provisions are made with reference to cutting timber from, such lands 

 as are made in the case of lands planted with trees referred to above. 

 Mention should be made of the fact that all wild or forest land within 

 the forest reserve are assessed and taxed at a like valuation and rate 

 as similar lands of individuals within the counties where situated. 



Pennsylvania. — Special legislation in Pennsylvania relative to the 

 taxation of forests was enacted in the year 191 3. The law, approved 

 June 5, 1913, prescribes that "in order to encourage the growing of 

 such trees as will at the proper age be suitable for merchantable forest 



