378 MISC. PUBLICATION 218, U. 8. DEPT. OF AGRICULTURE 
laws do not offer sufficient inducement to the owner to compensate 
him for the sacrifice demanded. They have not been applied at all 
in Kentucky and Virginia, and the extent of application in New 
Hampshire has been negligible from a taxation standpoint. 
The yield-tax and exemption laws of this group, with the exception 
of the New Hampshire law involving deed to the State, are similar in 
principle to those of general application to be discussed later, aside 
from the previously mentioned restriction to planted stands or small 
areas. The only one of these laws which is known to be applied to 
more than 0.05 percent of the privately owned forest land area is the 
forest tree exemption law of New Hampshire, where over 8,000 acres, 
or 0.2 percent of the private forest land area, are classified. This New 
Hampshire law is restricted to tracts of not over 100 acres belonging 
to 1 owner in any 1 town. The next most widely used law is the 
Michigan wood-lot law, which is applied to almost 1,600 acres. This 
law allows to classified wood lots an exemption of all property value 
over $1 per acre, imposing a substitute tax of 5 percent based on the 
yield, or stumpage value of forest products, when cut. A study of 
the situation in Michigan has led to the conclusion that, while the 
wood-lot law has enabled a small number of farm wood-lot owners to 
obtain a reduction in taxes, it has failed to accomplish any substantial 
improvement in farm forestry. 
These laws of lhmited application represent attempts to encourage 
forestry on a small scale by means of tax subsidies or concessions 
limited to specific cases. Most of them would not be susceptible of 
wide application because of the effect on public revenues. It is safe 
to conclude that the laws of this group are of no practical importance 
in contributing to the solution of the forest-tax problem. Digests 
follow of the Michigan wood-lot law and of the forest-tree-exemption 
law of New Hampshire. For the outline of these digests, reference 
should be made to the fine print explanation page 374. 
MICHIGAN. PARTIAL WOOD-LOT EXEMPTION AND YIELD TAX, PASSED IN 1917 
Compiled Laws of Michigan, 1929, sections 5747-5758. 
I-II. On properties classified as ‘‘private forest reservations”, the value in 
excess of $1 per acre is exempt from the property tax. Otherwise the operation 
of the property tax is not changed. 
IV. A license fee (yield tax) is imposed upon the stumpage value of all timber 
removed from such properties, other than firewood and building material for the 
domestic use of the owner or his tenant. The rate of the fee is 5 percent. Timber 
may not be removed before the fee has been paid. The assessment of the fee is 
made by the township assessor, being based on a return of the measurement or 
count and the variety and stumpage value of the trees cut, supplied to him by the 
owner after cutting and before removal; products not subject to the yield tax 
need not be reported. 
VII-1-a. The initial qualifications for classification are as follows: The prop- 
erty must be a part, not exceeding one-fourth, of a tract of not over 160 acres, of 
which at least one-half is improved and devoted to agriculture. The trees must 
be of the kinds specifically designated in the act or in a regulation of the State 
board of agriculture. A stand of 1,200 planted forest trees per acre must be 
present or, if the site is already partially stocked, open areas must be planted at 
a spacing of approximately 6 by 6 feet. 
VII-1—b. The procedure of classification is initiated by application of the 
owner to the county treasurer, including description of the property. Such 
descriptions are certified annually by the treasurer to the township supervisor or 
assessor, who requires of the owner an oath as to the truth of the description and 
his intent to maintain the property according to the law. Classification is thereby 
effected. [No contract is apparently executed between the owner and the State] 
although section 5756 states that ‘‘the State board of agriculture shall also 
prescribe the form of application and contract. * 
