Tax Situation in New Hampshire 477 



The assessors from their personal knowledge have admitted 

 that 9 of the (55 cut-over lots, or 13.8 per cent, were cut directly 

 because of high assessed values. It is probable that the per 

 cent cut for this reason is much higher, since it is inconceivable 

 that an owner will continue to hold a lot when the assessed 

 value has been raised 200 up to 600 per cent, unless he is a per- 

 son of means and is actuated by sentimental reasons. 



The real conclusion is that the majority of lots are cut, not 

 because the assessed values approach the actual values, but 

 because the owners are unwilling to pay taxes on rapidly in- 

 creased assessments when it can easily be avoided by removing 

 the timber. It often happens that an owner is unable to pay 

 the increase of tax without borrowing the money or selling some 

 of the timber, which might not be possible without disposing of 

 it all. Many of the lots unfortunately forced on the market 

 should have been allowed to grow 10 or 15 years longer. Never- 

 theless, most of them are marketable and can be turned into cash 

 at any time and the cash invested at from 4 to 5 per cent. 



We cannot get away from the economic fact that White pine 

 timber lots reach their financial maturity when 50 to 60 years of 

 age. One does not have to study very deeply into the growth of 

 our dense, unthinned stands of pine which are within 10 years of 

 the economic age for cutting without discovering that the value 

 of the annual growth does not greatly overbalance the interest 

 on the lumber value of the standing trees. If the owners could 

 thin out their pine stands and secure some returns from time to 

 time, in order to increase the amount of annual growth and help 

 pay the taxes, the desirability of letting the timber stand in spite 

 of taxes, would be much greater. Between 35 and 40 years of 

 age the yearly rate of growth in a dense, unthinned pine lot 

 drops from 10 to 6.4 per cent of its volume. Between 40 and 45 

 years the drop is from 6.4 per cent to 4.6 per cent. At this age 

 and under the present administration of the tax laws, the owner 

 begins to feel the pressure of taxes. His tax bill may double or 

 more than double in one year, and whether or not he realizes 

 that the profits from holding the timber regardless of taxes are 

 at the same time being reduced yearly, he looks about for the 

 best chance to sell. When the timber is sold it is found perhaps 

 that the assessed value was not 75 per cent of the actual value. 



