1S6 REPORT OF THE FORESTRY COMMITTEE 



TAXING MATURE FORESTS 



THERE is no economic reason, theoretical or expedient, why any community 

 should not at once adopt some such system as those we have described for 

 deforested land. Revenues will not be perceptibly disturbed and are cer- 

 tain to be increased eventually. There cannot fail to be public economy in pro- 

 ducing forests where they will not be produced under the present system. 



With regard to uncut virgin timber the problem is much more difficult. To a 

 large extent it represents wealth not produced by the owner. To an extent the 

 opposite is true, for carrying costs may accumulate to equal the value of the timber. 

 'I'o find the proportion in each case is a most delicate task. In some regions 

 mature timber may be uneconomically held out of use for speculative reasons. 

 In others the tendency is to uneconomical cutting in advance of true need for use. 

 While a yield tax on the timber itself is logically the only, correct tax, it may 

 increase current revenues in a region of heavy cutting or decrease them where 

 cutting is slight. In the heavily-timbered State where wise taxation will do the 

 most good because there is more material to be favorably affected, there is also 

 the greatest difficulty in changing existing systems. 



So here again we are under the necessity of considering local conditions, 

 yet without space to classify them too nicely. About the only classification practi- 

 cable is the same adopted in discussing new forest crops — separating from the 

 others the extreme Pacific States having over half our virgin supply and con- 

 strained to hold much of this long uncut. 



EASTERN CONDITIONS 



THE problem of taxation of mature forests in the eastern part of the United 

 States is far less serious than in the States of the Pacific coast. It is only 

 in the States of the Pacific coast and in some parts of the South and ex- 

 treme Northeast that large areas of mature virgin forest are the prevailing forest 

 type. In these parts of the country very much of such timber would not naturally 

 be cut and should not properly be cut for many years to come. Throughout the 

 greater part of the country, however, this is not the prevailing condition. Under 

 these circumstances the taxation of mature forests is not such a serious problem. 

 In fact, the plan already suggested for the taxation of "new forests" might be 

 adapted with slight changes so as to include also mature forests. Certain practical 

 difficulties, however, may be avoided by adopting a somewhat different plan for 

 the taxation of mature and partly grown forests. The following plan is proposed. 

 Many features of this plan are identical with the corresponding parts of the plan 

 already suggested for the taxing of "new forests." In some cases we have 

 repeated these sections and in other cases reference is made to the previous plan. 

 1. Lands Subject to Special Taxation. The special forest tax should apply 

 to all lands on which forests are growing and which meet certain conditions to 

 be specified in the law. 



Lands subject to the special tax shall be valued at not over — dollars per 

 acre. (This value should be fixed so low as to exclude lands better suited for 

 other uses than forestry.) Lands shall be separately classified and brought under 



