FIFTH NATIONAI, CONSERVATION CONGRESS 123 



for proper assessment of the timber cut. In compliance therewith the owner shall 

 as required make or cause to be made to the assessor sworn statements of the 

 kind, quality and quantity of material cut, and, unless shown to be in error, such 

 statements shall be the basis of assessing and taxing its stumpage value as herein- 

 before provided. If there is reason to believe that any statement of timber cut 

 is incorrect or incomplete or there is failure to make such statement, there may 

 be required from the owner or his agents such further information as may be 

 deemed necessary and in event of inability by the county assessor to arrive at a 

 correct assessment the State forester may, upon request, designate an agent to 

 conduct an examination who shall have access to any books or papers bearing upon 

 the matter. Any person or corporation who shall fail to file any sworn state- 

 ment required by this section shall be liable for the cost of any such examination 

 thereby necessitated and shall also pay, in addition to such cost and the tax tound 

 to be due, 10 per cent of the stumpage value of the material determined to have 

 been cut, and if any person shall wilfully falsify or cause to be falsified any 

 statement required by this section he shall be liable for the costs of examination 

 and the full value of the material cut and also be guilty of perjury and liable to 

 indictment and punishment therefor under the laws of this State. 



7. All taxes due under this act shall be due and collectible as other taxes 

 in the State and subject to the same liens and processes of collection. Taxes due 

 thereunder upon forest material shall be a lien upon all the owner's land and 

 timber classified thereunder, until paid, and in event of the possibility that removal 

 of forest material upon which taxes due are not paid may leave insufficient security 

 therefor, the assessor may, if he deems necessary, require sufficient bond to insure 

 their payment. 



8. Failure on the part of any owner of lands separately classified under this 

 act to comply with any provision thereof or of the agreement upon which its 

 classification is conditioned shall be cause for cancellation by the State forester of 

 the certificate of classification, in which event the State forester shall notify the 

 county assessor and the timber shall be at once taxed in a sum equivalent, as far 

 as this may be determined, to the accumulation of the taxes it would have paid if 

 not separately classified ; provided, that this section shall not prevent dissolution 

 of the contract and re-classification of the land without penalty at any time by 

 mutual consent of the owner and the State forester on behalf of the State. 



9. To the end that cutting of standing timber shall be conducted so as to 

 place the land in the best condition for reforesting, uncut forest land may be sub- 

 ject to examination, plan and contract as provided for by this act and the separate 

 classification of the land for taxation shall take eflfect within one year after the 

 standing timber is cut and removed in full compliance with the terms of said 

 contract. 



It will be seen that this plan differs little in the aggregate tax imposed from 

 the plan proposed in this report for eastern conditions and those already adopted 

 by several eastern States. They minimize the annual tax and collect it again 

 by a yield tax. This collects it all annually and adds one more tax — that on the 

 crop at general property rates. The latter, while theoretically unnecessary for 

 justice, is a means of collecting the community's share of any speculative increase 

 of value beyond that due to the forest grower's effort while at the same time 

 acting as a deterrent to speculation. 



We are perhaps more familiar with proposals to encourage the forest grower 

 by minimizing or removing his annual burden on land as well as timber, com- 

 pensating the State therefor by a correspondingly heavy yield tax. These seek 



