Circular no. 



899 

 April 1952 . Washington, D. C. 



UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



Forest Yield Taxes 



By Ralph W. Marquis, Director 

 Northeastern Forest Experiment Station, Forest Service 



CONTENTS 



Page 



Introduction 1 



Problems of the general property tax 1 



Measures proposed to solve the property-tax problem 4 



The special interest in yield-tax laws 5 



Principle and application of the yield tax 6 



Tax and revenue features 6 



Forestry features 6 



Yield-tax laws in effect 7 



Appraisals of yield-tax principle 7 



Reasons for small area classified under the yield tax S 



A reappraisal of yield-tax principle 13 



Specific provisions of yield-tax laws 14 



Qualification of forest land for classification 15 



Proceduie of classification 18 



Provisions for declassification 23 



The tax on bare land 26 



The yield tax on products harvested 28 



Forest-practice requirements 33 



Reimbursement of local governments 37 



Disposition of tax receipts 38 



Elements of a good yield-tax law 38 



A single model law not desirable 38 



What a good yield-tax law should do 39 



General requirements of a good law 41 



INTRODUCTION 



PROBLEMS OF THE GENERAL PROPERTY TAX 



For more than a century the application of the general property 

 tax to private forest properties has been criticized. This form of 

 taxation has been held responsible for the rapid liquidation of mature 

 timber, for the instability of forest-land ownership, and for the failure 

 of owners to provide for the production of a new crop of trees on 

 cut-over lands. Though the effects of the ad valorem tax have been 

 greatly exaggerated, the tendencies to create these results must be 

 recognized. 



984409—52 1 



