882 A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 



t There is delinquency also in land left in productive condition, 

 simply because the owner sees no profit in holding the land for another 

 crop or takes no interest in permanent forest-land management. 

 Here there is apparently a correlation between the extent of delin- 

 quency and the amount of the taxes, other things being equal. The 

 higher the taxes the greater the extent of the delinquency. Taxes 

 that are out of proportion to the earning power of the property, 

 present or prospective, portend delinquency and foreclosure. A 

 deflation in property values, due to the disappearance of supposed 

 speculative values, or to an economic depression like the present, 

 and not accompanied by commensurate tax reduction, stimulates the 

 abandonment of land. Forest land that is exposed to colonization 

 development, with accompanying mounting costs of Government for 

 roads and schools, becomes subject to a growing tax burden from 

 special levies of one kind and another. When a certain limit is 

 reached, the owner of cut-over land decides he can not afford to hold 

 on longer and abandons his property, which may fall to public owner- 

 ship or may be taken up by another class of owner for other purposes. 



It is not only the actual present taxes that deter an owner from 

 holding his cut-over lands but the apprehension that his taxes will 

 be raised to the breaking point before he can get any return from 

 subsequent forest crops. 



It is quite significant that in the forest district of northern Maine, 

 where there is a disposition to hold lands and keep them productive, 

 where town Government is not organized, governmental facilities are 

 few, and taxes are correspondingly low, there is practically no tax 

 delinquency, even though there are great areas of logged lands. The 

 fact that much of these lands are logged selectively, fires are held 

 down, and forest productivity is preserved gives the owner a perma- 

 nent interest in the land that impels him to be willing to pay a rea- 

 sonable annual tax. 



It was found in Minnesota, and the same condition probably 

 prevails elsewhere, that long-term delinquency was higher in cut-over 

 forest counties where attempt had been made at agricultural develop- 

 ment and found to be unsuccessful, than in counties where agricul- 

 tural settlement was not attempted. Apparently, in regions where 

 settlement takes place, tax levies and assessments rise on account 

 of roads, schools, etc., on even the unoccupied interfarm areas. 

 This discourages the owner of idle cut-over land from further tax 

 paying. As these latter lands go delinquent the tax burden is then 

 shifted to the owner of the submarginal agricultural land, who in 

 turn becomes desirous of abandoning his land because its production 

 does not justify its growing tax burden. The process of tax delin- 

 quency is thus self-accelerating and the breakdown of private owner- 

 ship pyramided as the process continues. 



UNCUT TIMBERLAND 



The amount of mature timber, not considering farm woodland, 

 which is reverting from private to public ownership is apparently not 

 large at present; it is greater in the Northwest than elsewhere. 

 Where there is tax foreclosure on mature timberland that has an 

 intrinsic value to justify its carrying charges, the cause must be 

 sought in the inability of the present owner to pay his taxes even 



