LAWS RELATING TO TAXATION ON FOREST LANDS 35 



law. The complete text of the laws is then given, for the use of those who 

 wish further details. 



RELIEF FROM TAXATION BY FOREST PLANTING 



On lands not wooded, and of small area 



Areas of one acre to one hundred acres of land not wooded may, after 

 the land has been planted for forestry purposes with not less than eight 

 hundred trees per acre, be exempted from all taxation for a period of thirty- 

 five years. The exemption from taxes applies both to the land and to the 

 trees growing on it. But " lands situated within twenty miles of the cor- 

 porate limits of a city of the first class, or within ten miles of the corporate 

 limits of a city of the second class, or within five miles of the corporate 

 limits of a city of the third class, or within one mile of the corporate limits 

 of an incorporated village " are not entitled to this exemption. 



Lands that were forested before this law was passed (April 10, 1912) 

 may also receive the benefit of the law if the planting was done since April 

 10, 1909, and if the application for exemption is made before April 10, 1913. 



The procedure in exempting the planted area from taxation is as follows : 

 After the planting is completed, the owner files with the Conservation 

 Commission at Albany an affidavit proving the planting and describing 

 the location of the land. The Conservation Commission then sends a 

 representative to inspect the area. If the planting is found to have been 

 properly completed, the Conservation Commission reports to the county 

 treasurer that the land is to be exempted from taxation. The county 

 treasurer reports in turn to the assessors of the tax district in which the 

 land is located, who enter the land on the next assessment roll as being 

 exempt from taxation for a period of thirty-five years. 



If land thus exempted ceases to be used exclusively as a forest plantation 

 before the period of exemption has expired, the usual taxes will again be 

 levied against the property. 



If the land continues to be used exclusively for the growth of a 

 planted forest after the thirty-five-years period of exemption has expired, 

 the land is to be assessed at its true value but the timber growing on 

 the land remains exempt from taxation, with the following exception : 

 if any timber is cut before taxes on the land have been paid for five con- 

 secutive years after the exemption period has expired, a tax of five per 

 cent of the estimated stumpage value of the cut timber must be paid. 

 However, this tax is not levied on trees that are cut, under the super- 

 vision of the Conservation Commission, for the purpose of thinning the 

 forest in order to increase the rate of growth of the remaining timber. 



For further details, the reader is referred to chapter 249 of the Laws of 

 .1912 (p. 38). 



