890 JOURNAL OF FOKESTRV 



Yield Tax in Conncciicut, Law of 1913, as It Is and as It Should Be 



Yield tax 



, -^ -V 



Present Suggested 



Timber cut during — low rate rate 



Per cent Per cent 



First decade 2 i . i 



Second decade 3 1.5 



Third decade 4 2 . r 



Fourth decade 5 2.8 



Fifth decade 6 3.7 



Sixth decade and later 7 5.0 



In the above suggested values, the 5 per cent final is discounted at 3 

 per cent compound. In the present low scale this was evidently not 

 done, and the man who cuts during the first decade pays really 9 per 

 cent yield tax, while the man who waits 50 years pays only 7 per cent. 



That the 10 per cent yield tax for timber raised in plantations seems 

 an unfair punishment of the people who plant, is evident, and also that 

 the addition of the yearly land tax makes the burden still more dispro- 

 portionate and unfair for the forest. 



Interesting, in this connection, is a comparison of the taxes per acre 

 of land area derived from the forest as against farm. 



In farming, even if buildings, stock, and all is included, the tax on 

 the average farm of the United States is, with total value of farm at 

 $6,443 and area 138 acres: 



(a) On 8 per mill, $51.44, or ^y cents per acre. 



(b) According to U. S. Department Agriculture, in Circular 132-A, 

 $38.66, or 27 cents per acre. 



Allowing only 25 per cent for value of buildings, implements, and 

 live stock, the tax per acre of land is about 21 to 27 cents. 



In forestry, the land is constantly covered with a growing stock, the 

 larger portion having a fair sale value or market value at any time. In 

 fact, this growing crop or growing stock is normally worth three to five 

 times as much as the land. 



The result is just what one expects, that forestry pays a much larger 

 tax per acre than does farming. Thus, in the table for spruce, site II, 

 and at 5 per cent yield tax, the forest would furnish : 



32 cents per acre at rotation of 80 years, 

 45 cents per acre at rotation of 100 years, 

 56 cents per acre at rotation of 120 years, 



clearly showing the tax-producing quality of the forest. And this the 

 forest is required to do on land which on an average is not worth over 

 one-fourth the price of farm land. 



