THE NATURAL TAXATION OF TIMBERED 



MINING LAND 



By ROBERT B. BRINSMADE, E.M. 



A COMMON objection to the nat- 

 ural* tax on land values is the al- 

 leged impracticability of estimat- 

 ing such values for purposes of taxa- 

 tion. It is the object of this article to 

 show that this evaluation is not only 

 practicable, but can be achieved without 

 the introduction of any untried meth- 

 ods. 



The land values with which assessors 

 have to deal, may be divided into five 

 kinds, viz : franchise, farming, townsite, 

 timber and mining. In the case of fran- 

 chise values, which include the rights of 

 way and easements of railroads and 

 other public-utility companies, the fran- 

 chise may be evaluated by capitalizing 

 the average annual surplus income after 

 the cost of operation and repairs and the 

 interest on all construction costs has 

 been subtracted from the gross earn- 

 ings. The more risky the investment, 

 the higher should be placed the rate of 

 interest on which the capitalization of 

 the annual surplus is based. This class 

 of values is now regularly estimated in 

 New York State to comply with the 

 Ford franchise-tax law. 



The evaluation of farming land is 

 well understood, having been studied 

 for centuries, by assessors and boards 

 of equalization, both in this country 

 and Europe. Though townsite appraise- 

 ment is not so thoroughly systematized, 

 such legislation as the New York law 

 requiring the separate assessment of 

 land values and improvements has done 

 much to perfect methods of evaluation. 

 The system devised by W. A. Somers, 

 of St. Paul, which starts with certain 

 determined sites in each precinct and 

 evaluates the surrounding lots by defi- 



nite rules, has met many severe tests, 

 and if not yet perfect bids fair soon to 

 become so. 



When we enter upon the appraise- 

 ment of timber and mining land, how- 

 ever, we find ourselves tossing on a sea 

 of contrary currents. While we can 

 base farm values on the supposition of 

 a perennial average crop and townsite 

 values on a continual annual rent ; we 

 have to consider for timberland, a crop 

 that will take from twenty to 100 years 

 to mature and for mining land, a crop 

 of minerals that can only be reaped 

 once. Besides the evaluation we must 

 provide, in the case of timberland, for 

 its harvesting without undue waste, fire 

 risk or ill effects on soil or water 

 courses, and in the case of mining land, 

 that its exploitation shall not only be 

 economical, but harmless to life and to 

 surface structures. 



Until the inauguration of the forest- 

 reserve policy, the quicker that the tim- 

 berlands of the National and State gov- 

 ernments were reduced to absolute pri- 

 vate ownership, the better were our 

 politicians pleased. In fact, many great 

 fortunes were obtained by the theft of 

 Government timber with the connivance 

 of prominent officials. At this point, a 

 distinction must be made between wood- 

 lands, that must be cleared to prepare 

 for farming in the great valleys of the 

 rain belt, and those forests on steep 

 slopes or scanty soils, whose destruction 

 makes only a desert. It is the last class 

 that should be preserved and which re- 

 quires special legislative treatment. 



The assessment of timberland at its 

 full value as standing timber, places a 

 premium on its speedy denudation and 

 tends to prevent the reforesting of the 



*See "Natural Taxation," by T. G. Shearman. 

 408 



