KEPORT FOR 1912 AND 1913 45 



Taxing Woodlands. 



The taxation problem has received much attention during the past 

 year, the tax on woodlands coming in for a small share. When it 

 is recognized that more than one-third of the total area of the State 

 is wooded, and that this class of land will be required to bear a large 

 part of the burdens of increased taxation, the importance of devising 

 a better system of taxation is apparent to anyone who has given the 

 matter a careful study. The present system of taxing woodlands 

 under the general property tax is discouraging to conservative man- 

 agement. Forest property is different from other property in that 

 it does not produce an annual revenue. It takes many years to 

 produce a crop of timber, and in the meantime taxes and interest 

 accumulate rapidly without an income with which to pay them. 

 Under the general property tax not only the land but the timber crop 

 upon it is taxed annually, which is not the case in any other kind of 

 crop. Except where the assessments are very low, this makes an exor- 

 bitant tax and amounts in many cases to confiscation. The forest is 

 recognized as a public necessity, and while it is not necessary to grant 

 special favors in the matter of taxation, it is highly important that it 

 at least should not be taxed out of existence. In this State prac- 

 tically all of the original growth has been cut, so that our forest lands 

 are those upon which a second, third or even a fourth growth is being 

 produced. In order to properly encourage the production of timber 

 crops it is necessary that a more equable method of adjusting the 

 taxes be devised to place the growing of timber upon a satisfactory 

 basis. With the uncertainties that exist under the present system, 

 there is little encouragement for an investor to buy land, or for an 

 owner to hold his land for the purpose of growing a crop of timber, 

 when he knows that as soon as the trees get large enough to have 

 any merchantable value the assessment will be raised, and this in- 

 crease in the assessment will be increased with the growth of the tim- 

 ber. By the time the forest has become mature the chances are that 

 the taxes and interest paid on his investment will exceed the value of 

 the timber that is cut. This is unjust and can have no other effect than 

 placing a penalty upon forest conservation. The present agitation in 



