60 REPORT OF SPECIAL FORESTRY COMMITTEE 



TAXATION 



A serious mistake was made when the present 

 forestry work was begun in not making some pro- 

 vision for the relief of the taxing districts by reason 

 of their being deprived of the tax revenue from the 

 State lands. 



During the time that the State has been acquiring 

 184,314 acres, it has disposed of 79,974 acres; still, 

 in the effort of the forestry board to block up and 

 consolidate the reserve the State's holdings have 

 become confined to a much smaller territory. Hence, 

 the loss of taxable property by some of the assess- 

 ment districts has become very noticeable and in 

 some instances a considerable hardship. The earlier 

 Legislatures should have made some provision for 

 this. In spite of the fact that the forestry depart- 

 ment has recommended some relief, nothing was 

 done, however, until the session of 1913. 



At that time a bill was passed which provided 

 for the payment by the State of a tax upon all 

 lands within the forest reserve area for all except 

 State purposes at a rate of taxation not to exceed 

 1 \ per centum of the assessed value. By reason 

 of this having been limited to the forest reserve 

 area the question of its constitutionality has been 

 raised and the matter is now before the State Su 

 preme Court. 



That this act will, if constitutional, afford relief 

 has not been questioned. 



The total assessed value of all the State lands in 

 the forest reserve amounts to $1,249,521 for the 

 year 1913, the tax upon which, as certified by the 

 Wisconsin Tax Commission to the Secretary of 

 State, amounted to $15,619.05. 



Pennsylvania has a system by which each town- 

 ship or assessment district is paid two cents per acre 

 towards the maintenance of schools and an additional 

 two cents per acre toward the up-keep of its roads 

 this making in all four cents per acre. Taking the 



