174 



FORESTRY AND IRRIGATION 



April 



kinds is taxed at a nominal rate. Farm 

 land not cleared bears little. A com- 

 parison can not be made, however, 

 with other forms of unproductive 

 property city lots, for instance. The 

 owner of the latter produces nothing 

 from his land ; he hopes to gain by 

 what others do. The forest owner, on 

 the other hand, does produce some- 

 thing of value and will eventually pay 

 a proper tax on it. 



One reason why forest property is 

 held in such high esteem in most of the 

 countries of Europe is that the taxes 

 are levied fairly. No matter how high 

 the rate in any locality may be, the 

 owner has the assurance of absolute 

 enuity in the valuation. 



It would be impossible to apply the 

 European system here with anything 

 like the exactness that attaches to it 

 in the old countries, because we have 

 not the means of knowing the true 

 worth of forest soil or of forest crops, 

 but the principle is applicable any- 

 where. Even in the hands of non- 

 expert assessors it gives a fairer basis 

 of valuation than our present method 

 and in the long run will insure larger 

 returns. 



This is the equity of forest taxation ; 

 but the communities have another in- 

 terest than that of revenue, namely, to 

 maintain the forests in the greatest 

 possible extent and effectiveness for 

 the sake of lumbering and its many 

 dependent industries, and for the in- 

 fluence that they have upon stream 

 flow and the modification of climatic 

 extremes. These subjects are begin- 

 ning to be well understood, and need 

 not be dwelt upon. 



POINTS TO BE CONSIDERED. 



The points that, in the writer's opin- 

 ion, should be considered in any equit- 

 able scheme of forest taxation are the 

 following : 



( i ) Forests are necessary to the pub- 

 lic welfare, and consequently each 

 Commonwealth should bear a part of 

 the cost of maintaining them. This 

 means that the State treasuries should 



assume a considerable part of the ob- 

 ligation, and, as far as is proper, re- 

 lieve the counties, because a region 

 that is rich in forest is poor in every- 

 thing else population, farms, indus- 

 tries and it is right that the cities and 

 towns should contribute to the mainte- 

 nance of conditions that are as impor- 

 tant to them as they are to the people 

 who live close to the forest borders, 

 exemptions and rebates, as usually al- 

 lowed, do not meet this requirement, 

 because the county bears the burden ; 

 that is, if one piece of property pays 

 less, all the rest must pay a higher rate 

 to make up the deficiency. In no case 

 are exemptions justified, unless even- 

 one who shares the burden of it is cor- 

 respondingly benefited. If a piece of 

 private forest serves to protect a drain- 

 age area, or is valued for its beauty, 

 it is right for all who enjoy or profit 

 by it to pay a proper share of the local 

 taxes. For instance, if a town or vil- 

 lage wants the owner of a woodlot to 

 keep it for the people's pleasure they 

 may remit the taxes on it, because no 

 one else is concerned. 



But a State can not properly declare 

 that its forest reserve shall be untaxed, 

 because such action robs the counties 

 of the revenue that they need. New 

 York, which holds the largest State re- 

 serve, recognizes this principle and 

 pays local taxes on its land. The Aus- 

 trian state forests pay taxes on land 

 and income. With our National hold- 

 ings the same principle should apply in 

 all cases where land previously subject 

 to taxation is taken over/' 



(2) A forest is a form of property 

 whose value is potential or prospective 

 most of the time ; only when the trees 

 are market ripe can an income be de- 

 rived from it. 



(3) In consequence of yielding pe- 

 riodic returns, the greater part of the 

 tax to be paid upon a forest should fall 

 due when the timber is sold and not 

 to be made a burden upon the other 

 property of the owner through many 

 years. The periods at which forests 



c t'nder a new law enacted in 1905, Pennsylvania pays to the counties, in lieu of taxes 

 5 cents a year for each acre of State land. 



