FOREST TAXATION IN THE UNITED STATES Dal 
of production by either artificial or natural regeneration, with interest. 
This assumption gives these examples an appearance of unreality, as 
it is usually possible in the forested regions of the United States to buy 
forest lands stocked with stands of trees at less than the cost of 
growing such stands. When this may be done, it is clearly more profit- 
able to start a forestry enterprise by buying such lands, and the 
establishment of forests by planting or by natural regeneration on 
clear-cut lands will be a minor factor in private forest management. 
Where the forestry enterprise can thus be started with a partially or 
fully stocked forest, the financial results will be quite different from 
those indicated by the examples which follow. Also, when the 
initial stocking is such that there need be little or no deferment of 
income, the burden of the property tax should be little or no different 
than in the case of other enterprises where the principal investment 
isin real estate. Therefore, the following theoretical examples should 
be regarded as showing the effect of the property tax under the con- 
ditions as stated rather than under typical conditions. One of the 
objects of this report is to suggest means of correcting any excess 
burden of the property tax, and therefore it is proper to consider the 
cases where this excess burden is found at its maximum. 
The gross income assumed in these theoretical examples is based on 
evidence afforded by yield tables from sample forests throughout the 
country, combined with prices of the several products. Since it is 
impossible to predict what future prices will be, the calculations are 
based on recent prices. 
Since the ordinary yield tables are based on fully stocked stands, it 
must be recognized that the results to be obtained in actual practice 
will rarely if ever be up to the yields thus shown. It is estimated 
that the majority of stands under good management in the future will 
probably not be more than 80 percent stocked. This reduction 
peat has therefore been applied to the yields as shown by the yield 
tables. 
It must be also borne in mind that a certain amount of loss is to be 
expected from fire and other causes such as fungi, insects, wind, etc. 
As a means of estimating the proper allowance for loss, resort has been 
had to the experience of the national forests. The fire damage on the 
national forests amounts annually to $2,076,516 (105, p.32). This figure 
represents a 5-year average for the period 1926-30. A conservative 
estimate of the damage caused by other agencies than fire is about 
$2,000,000. Since the area of the national forests is 160,787,687 
acres (105, p. 22), the total loss (about $4,000,000) amounts to 
$0.025 per acre. 
The reader will appreciate that an estimate of future losses to 
forests must in any case be only a guess, since the appraisals of past 
losses, the only data on which to base an estimate of future losses, are 
themselves merely rough estimates. It may be assumed for the 
purposes of this theoretical analysis that the same hazards are apt 
to be found in privately owned forests as in the national forests, and 
that conditions as to species and age classes are the same for both 
types of forests. In arriving at the per acre damage figure the area 
of forest land in the national forests might have been used rather than 
the total area, because of the large amount of nonforest land in the 
national forests. This would have given a somewhat larger damage 
figure. The smaller figure is used because it is reasonable to expect 
