224 MISC. PUBLICATION 218, U. S. DEPT. OF AGRICULTURE 
TABLE 86.—Distribution of local political units studied by ratios of forests to the 
tax base } 
Counties, county Towns, township 
groups,? or parishes groups, or townships 
Ratio of forests to tax base 
Rural real Total tax Rural real Motiletor 
estate base estate ase 
tax base tax base 
OLS Percent Aah he RAS LS Ee ee oe Fee en 64 119 0 0 
1O=20; Wercentee eee ea. SUA Re eel Pe) eae 78 142 3 1 
30249 percent= = see TA ee an See eS 74 54 2 4 
5OS79SDET CON Use So ee Ee ee ee a 94 23 10 5 
80-100" percent<s- 32 eee 2 See ee Se 29 | 1 15 | 1 
Potala eck We Wel ee Se Mee naa tee 339 | 339 | 30 | 311 
1 Based on tables 67 to 82. 
2 The area in Maine was divided into 2 groups as follows: Wild-lands territory and organized territory. 
3 In 19 towns the value of all property was not obtained. 
In 22 States, according to table 85, forests constitute less than 
1 percent of the total tax base. In these States a change in method 
of taxing forest property would have little effect on State revenues or 
the aggregate of local revenues. Of the remaining 26 States, 12 show 
a ratio of forests to total tax base of 1 to 4 percent, and 14 a ratio of 
5 to 19 percent. The seriousness of the effect upon revenues caused 
by a revision of the method of taxing forests would, of course, vary 
with the method. The situation would be acute if forest taxes were 
greatly reduced without providing other revenues in some of the 
States where forests constitute a large part of the total tax base. 
In the selected areas studied (table 86), forests make up a large part 
of the tax base of many county or parish governments and an even 
greater part of the tax base of many town or township governments, 
being practically the sole element in some towns and townships. The 
universal application of any new method of forest taxation which 
would deprive the local governments of a part of their revenues, even 
though only temporarily, would mean a serious dislocation of finances, 
which would have to be compensated in some way. If the various 
States should assume and make up this loss of revenue, permanently 
or during a period of transition, they could probably carry the load. 
Those States, however, which depend to any great extent upon the 
property tax would themselves lose revenue if forest property were 
removed from the property tax base, and might encounter some diffi- 
culty in raising funds with which to reimburse their subdivisions for 
losses caused by a change in the method of taxing forests. 
If a full-value assessment of all property could be obtained in those 
political units where forests are an important part of the tax base, 
forest property would generally benefit in comparison with other real 
estate taken as a whole. This is indicated by the fact that in 39 out 
of 45 political units studied the effect of a full-value assessment would 
be to decrease the importance of forests in the tax base. 
