TWO SOLUTIONS OF THE FORESTRY TAX PROBLEM 



By ARTHUR GOADBY 



ONE of the most urgent needs of 

 our growing conservation policy 

 is a scientific method of forest tax- 

 ation. At present the manner of as- 

 sessment of private timber lands is un- 

 just and arbitrary and permits the an- 

 nual re-taxation of all the previous an- 

 nual increment, thereby driving land- 

 owners to hasty and wasteful lumbering 

 as well as discouraging them from any 

 replanting whatsoever. 



These facts have led several of the 

 States in recent years to attempt some 

 sort of remedy either by exempting 

 forested lands or by regulating the as- 

 sessment thereof. But hitherto such 

 experiments have met with small suc- 

 cess largely because of their inadequacy, 

 and largely because any legislation of 

 this sort is exceedingly difficult to 

 frame and still more difficult to enact, 

 since many divergent interests are in- 

 volved and in one or two instances well 

 devised measures have been nullified by 

 limitations in the State Constitutions. 



Something, however, must be done 

 and immediately, for public welfare 

 depends primarily upon the forests. We 

 have but to refer to such practical con- 

 siderations as erosion, the washing of 

 fertile soil from hillsides and slopes 

 where it is of permanent value into 

 river beds and harbors where it becomes 

 a costly nuisance ; to disastrous floods 

 due to unrestrained torrents ; to ex- 

 treme climatic disturbances whereby 

 sudden frosts and heat waves are car- 

 ried far out of their normal zones, and 

 whereby drought succeeds drought ; and 

 to the increasing scarcity and high cost 

 of timber. Then we have but to refer 

 to the great hygienic value of forests, 

 for since prehistoric ages they have 

 been nurseries of vigor; and to such 

 aesthetic considerations as unsightly 

 landscapes and barren mountain slopes, 

 muddy rivers, streams dried up or lit- 

 tered with debris, and the thousand and 

 one unpicturesque details which send 



thousands of people and millions of 

 money abroad to Europe every year to 

 satisfy the craving for beauty. And 

 then again we must refer to another 

 practical detail, that our wastefulness 

 is compelling us to buy at high prices 

 from abroad the timber which Nature 

 would bestow on us almost for nothing 

 at home. 



So vital are these matters to the 

 Nation at large that scientific reforesta- 

 tion may well be said to be the most 

 important and immediate question be- 

 fore us. Every effort should be made 

 at once to secure a forest cover of at 

 least one-fourth our total land area, a 

 proportion now regarded as essential to 

 every civilized community, and one 

 actually existing this day in Germany. 

 But since four-fifths of all the land in 

 our country is in private hands it is 

 obviously impossible, as well as un- 

 necessary, to achieve this end except by 

 encouraging forestry in some way on 

 private lands, and it is also obvious 

 that either the owners of these lands 

 must be induced to engage in forestry 

 or the different States must undertake 

 to reforest these private lands them- 

 selves. 



Today it is a question which method 

 is the better, private or public enter- 

 prise. We are in an age of experiment 

 and perhaps the better solution would 

 be the latter, but certainly we should 

 try both. 



In either case it seems to me there 

 are several cardinal principles that 

 should be embodied in the law of every 

 State, even though some amendment 

 will need to be iade t'r-t to their re- 

 spective State Con- 'l::itions. namely: 



1. Since imm.-HUM' landing trees 

 have no financial value thev should be 

 exempted absolutely fro M taxation 

 wherever existing, and 



';*. All private land in the State 

 ^liould be assessed at a value reckoned 

 \\ ithout reference to any immature 



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