HOW SHOULD OUR FUTURE FOREST 

 LANDS BE TAXED?* 



BY 



S. B. ELLIOTT 



Member Pennsylvania State Forestry Reservation Commission. 



""THE following is a tardy compliance 

 * with a promise made several 

 months ago to discuss in the columns 

 of Forest Leaves the very important 

 and pressing subject of taxation affect- 

 ing the reforestation of the waste, bar- 

 ren and cut-over lands in our state. 



All observing persons, all land own- 

 ers, and all those who have to do with 

 the lumber interests of our country, 

 know that as conditions now are no re- 

 forestation of those lands, whether 

 naturally of artificially attempted, can 

 take place while fires are allowed to 

 devastate them or assessors allowed, as 

 heretofore and now, to fix such values 

 upon them and the young timber 

 growing thereon, as may make it so 

 unprofitable to owners as to cause them 

 to refrain from attempting it. 



It is well known that in the past 

 many owners of valuable timber tracts 

 have been forced, from heavy taxa- 

 tion, to cut and throw their product 

 upon a glutted market to save that 

 product from practical confiscation ; 

 and this sort of work has done much 

 towards bringing about the present 

 deplorable state of depleted forests. 



Forest fires can and must be con- 

 trolled, and it is gratifying to know 

 that public sentiment is awakening to 

 the necessity of it that fires, especially 

 upon State reservations, are less fre- 

 quent. While it may seem hopeless 

 now, awakened public opinion brought 

 to bear upon the careless, heedless of- 

 fender, and the law upon the wilful 

 (in.', will and must settle the matter 

 without disagreement; but it is not so 

 with the question of taxation. Regard- 

 ing that men may disagree as their va- 

 ried interests mav be involved, but all 



should admit that taxation should be 

 so adjusted that it shall be equal, just, 

 and fair as possible, and the general 

 welfare subserved. 



There is no tax for state purposes 

 levied upon land in Pennsylvania, and 

 whatever may be levied upon realty 

 must, therefore, be local. The rate of 

 such local taxation varies with the 

 needs of the community, and only the 

 so-called rural districts can, in the 

 very nature of the case, place a tax upon 

 land with young and growing timber 

 on it. Therefore, any tax that shall 

 fall upon land, consequent upon grow- 

 ing young trees thereon, must, neces- 

 sarily, fall heavier upon rural districts 

 than on towns and cities. That ine- 

 quality should be relieved as much as 

 possible, for the towns and cities re- 

 quire timber as much as the rural dis- 

 tricts. 



Article IX, section i, of our State 

 Constitution, provides that "all taxes 

 shall be uniform upon the same class 

 of subjects." It is held that, under 

 this clause, land cannot be exempted 

 from taxation, save where it shall be 

 used for public purposes. This view 

 is certainly logical and must be cor- 

 rect, and in the scheme I shall propose 

 for relieving young growing timber 

 from taxation, until such time as it 

 shall reach an age wherein it shall have 

 a commercial value when cut, will in 

 no way conflict with that conclusion. 



There can be no truthful denial that 

 the assessor of the past (and he of the 

 present time is of the same mind), per- 

 sistently laid a heavy valuation upon 

 all land having growing or standing 

 timber upon it, and what he has been 

 doing in the past he will be almost cer- 



Iti'printud through the courtesy of Forest Leaves. 



