108 REPORT Olf THE FORESTRY COMMITTEE 



eiforts to get laws passed in the State of Louisiana so that the practice of for- 

 estry can be made profitable and be made enduring, and I thmk it will be, and 

 I do hope that there will be some law passed that will prevent comniitting of 

 waste, and of leaving top logs in the woods to burn up. There is no law now. 

 If I want to pay big dividends I can cut half the tree and leave the other half 

 in the woods, but that is wrong and there ought to be a way of stopping it. I 

 thank you. (Applause.) ,x t>t t a j r 



Others who took part in the discussion were: Mr. M. L. Anderson, of 

 Louisiana ; Mr. Alfred Gaskill, of New Jersey. . , , , ^. 



The Chairman : I am sorry that the time has expired for the discussion of 

 this subject and I think we ought to pass on now to the next subject of the 

 program, that of taxation of timber lands. Unless the meeting votes tothe 

 contrary, we will introduce that subject. The Chairman of the sub-committee 

 on forest taxation, Mr. Pinchot, has been obliged to spend the entire afternoon 

 working on another committee on water power. I am therefore going to ask 

 Mr. Allen, who is a member of the sub-committee and has done a good deal of 

 work on this report to introduce that subject. 



FOREST TAXATION 



BY THE SUB-COMMITTEE ON ?OREST TAXATION. 



Chairman, Gipford Pinchot, Washington, D. C. 

 Acting Chairman, E. T. Ai,len, Portland, Ore. 



F. R. Fairchild, New Haven, Conn. 

 H. S. Drinker, South Bethlehem, Penn. E. M. Griffith, Madison, Wis. 



Presented by Mr. E. T. Allen, Monday Afternoon, November 17, 1913. 



Section L" 



THE PKESENT STATE OF FOREST TAX LEGISLATION 



THE following is a brief summary of the present statutes in force in the 

 various states of the United States relating to the taxation of forests 

 together with a brief analysis and criticism of the principal features of 

 these laws. This section is reprinted from the article by Fred Rogers Fairchild 

 in American Forestry, October, 1912, p. 653. 



"The taxation of forests is a matter of State and local revenue. There 

 is no taxation of forests by the National Government. The legislation is 

 all State legislation. JCke basis of local revenue everywhere in the United 

 States and of State revenue in very many of the States is the general property 

 tax. Everyone is familiar with the principal features of the general property tax. 

 As a rule all property, real and personal, tangible and intangible, is subject to tax- 

 ation, unless specially exempted by law. Forest lands are subject to the tax the 

 same as any other kind of wealth. The law requires that the actual market value 

 shall be assessed, which in the case of forests means the full value of land and 

 trees. Of course it is a matter of common knowledge that the laws are not en- 

 forced as regards the requirement of an assessment at full market value. The 

 tax is collected annually at whatever rate is required to raise the necessary revenue 

 for the town, county. State, and other public bodies depending upon the general 

 property tax. 



