FOREST TAXATION 653 



and it requires but little action from man upon either side of the 

 balance to put either set of forces in the ascendency, and since man's 

 action is usually a response to his desire for pleasure or power or 

 profit, it is evident that the destruction of the forests of the Nation 

 holds at least one of these three rewards for him. One of the causes 

 of denudation lies in the fact that it is still n-iore profitable to destroy 

 than to produce, and the greatest single item of expense in the pro- 

 duction of timber is taxation. However, the unjust balance existing 

 between costs of timber production and sale values of stumpage is not 

 the only cause of denudation. There are other causes — too intangible, 

 perhaps, and possibly too sacred, to permit of analysis or modification. 

 These may be defined as "democracy" with which we should be for- 

 bidden to tinker even for the purpose of removing one of the causes 

 of non-productivity of timberland. It seems, therefore, that taxation 

 plus a mistaken tenure policy are the causes of denudation; and the 

 remedy will be time-consuming and costly. 



No real endeavor has been put forth to correct the land tenure 

 policy of this nation, and perhaps no effort should be made to do so. 

 On the other hand, every mother's son since Adam has taken a fling 

 at taxation. The trouble in all previous attempts at timberland tax 

 reform may lie in the fact that at least one fundamental truth has 

 been overlooked, namely : Forest soils possess a value based on the 

 power of the soil to produce, and this value is the sole taxable entity 

 of the growing forest. To some people this may be a debatable ques- 

 tion, and therefore the affirmative of the proposition may be developed 

 somewhat as follows : 



As a starting point certain fundamentals need to be reviewed. In a 

 nutshell these are the forest itself and forestry, and the tenets of 

 taxation. The forest is composed of two parts — the stand and that 

 upon which it stands. In other words, in reverse order, it comprises 

 an area of land surface, as one component part, and the timber which 

 it supports as the other part. These are separate entities foolishly 

 bound together in the public mind. Forestry, on the other hand, is a 

 public policy so far as the taxing authorities are concerned and every 

 system of taxation devised for timberlands should take into considera- 

 tion this dual meaning of the word "forest" and the factors recently 

 brought to light by the United States Forest Service and enumerated 

 at the beginning of this paper which have made necessary the forma- 



