4 CIRCULAR 8 9 9, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



MEASURES PROPOSED TO SOLVE THE PROPERTY-TAX PROBLEM 



Forest owners are not the only ones who have complained about 

 the high level of property taxes or the faults of their administration. 

 The problem is one of universal interest. From students of the prob- 

 lem have come a number of proposals to lessen the burden of property 

 taxes or to eliminate inequities that result from inefficient adminis- 

 tration. 



Mention has been made of the fact that in 23 of the States little or no 

 revenues from the general property tax go to support State functions, 

 and that the States as a whole are depending less and less on this source 

 of revenue. As a means of reducing the local need for property-tax 

 revenues, the States have greatly increased their grants in aid to county 

 governments from about 140 million dollars in 1932 to over 1.1 billion 

 dollars in 1950. 



Other proposals have been aimed at greater efficiency and lower cost 

 in local government administration. Prominent among these is the 

 plan for consolidation of small political units. This proposal has met 

 with strong local opposition and results in general have been disap- 

 pointing. More success has been had in the zoning of rural-land areas 

 and the creating of districts within which certain uses are prohibited. 

 By keeping farm families out of forest districts, for example, the need 

 for schools can be eliminated and the need for roads reduced. 



Every State is aware that the practices used in assessing property 

 for tax purposes could be better. Assessors' manuals are steadily being 

 improved and in many of the States courses in instruction are given to 

 assessors. It is not unnatural that first attention has been given to the 

 more valuable properties that produce the greater part of the tax rev- 

 enue, Standards for assessing public utilities, commercial and indus- 

 trial property, farm land, and urban residences have accordingly been 

 improved more than standards for assessing wild land. Even with 

 improved standards there is still the problem of getting them into prac- 

 tice. With local assessors in many of the States underpaid, under- 

 staffed, and holding elective offices, the traditional methods that result 

 in inequitable assessments are hard to replace. 



Some real progress is being made in correcting the assessment of 

 forest land. Aerial photos are being used to provide information 

 on forest types and crude measures of timber volume, and these 

 photos used as overlays on tax maps are showing up the worst errors 

 in assessment, A number of counties, in making reassessments, are 

 employing professional foresters whose spot cruises are used to sup- 

 plement aerial photos. 



Though not undertaken specifically to solve the property-tax prob- 

 lem, the adoption of forest practices resulting in sustained yield is 

 having this effect for some owners. The production of regular forest 

 crops brings regular income from which annual taxes can be paid, 

 and one objection to the property tax is removed. This does not auto- 

 matically correct the other problem of inequitable assessment of forest 

 land but it often helps. Assessors are apt to be more reasonable with 

 an owner whose property will continue to pay annual taxes than they 

 are with one who proposes to cut all his timber and thereby reduce 

 the tax base. 



A more direct approach to the problems of the general property tax 



