FQREST TAXATION IN THE UNITED STATES 427 
of a conventional assumed income makes it possible to assess farmers 
who fail to keep adequate accounts. However, a farmer occupying 
lands used only or mainly for husbandry may obtain a reduction from 
the conventional assessment to the actual profits of the year, if these 
are less than the amount of the assessment, or he may elect to be 
assessed under schedule D. The profits from woodlands are normally 
brought into assessment under schedule B. 
Schedule D is the principal schedule of the income tax, and relates 
to business and professional incomes and miscellaneous items. In- 
come charged under this schedule is normally computed for the pur- 
pose of assessment on the actual income of the preceding years. It 
applies to woodlands only when the taxpayer elects this schedule in 
place of schedule B, as explained later. 
The application of the income tax to forest lands involves the de- 
termination of income in two parts. That arising out of ownership 
is reported under schedule A, and that arising out of occupancy, 
normally under schedule B, and exceptionally under schedule D. 
Since the incomes under schedules A and B are determined by con- 
ventional rules, forest owners, like other landowners, are generally 
taxed not on the actual income but on an imaginary income, which 
need bear no relation to the actual income. Under the system of 
landlord and tenant under which most egricultural land is held in 
Great Britian, there is ample experience on which to base assessments 
of rental values of crop and pasture lands. Woodlands, however, are 
almost invariably retained and managed by the owner, so that there 
is insufficient experience on which to determine rents. In practice 
this rental value is determined by tradition and usage. 
The range of annual values at which woodlands are actually assessed 
is very wide. There is at least one area, probably a small area of 
ornamental woodland where an appeal has not been considered justi- 
fied, that has been assessed at an annual value as high as £2 ($9.70) 
per acre. At the same time areas which border on moorland or use- 
less waste have been assessed as low as 244d. ($0.05) and 4d. ($0.08) 
per acre. On 57 areas purchased or leased by the forestry commission, 
the original assessments averaged 3s. 1d. ($0.75) per acre. On appeal 
these assessments were revised by assessment committees and re- 
duced to an average rate of 1s. 9d. ($0.43) per acre (230, pp. 10, 90, 92). 
These assessments probably refer chiefly to bare land which is being 
afforested and not to existing woodlands. Particulars as to assess- 
ments were obtained from the chief inspector of taxes for two areas 
in the south of England. One of these areas is located in Somerset, 
Dorset, and Wiltshire and includes 15,032 acres of woodland with a 
range of annual values from 2s. ($0.49) to £2 ($9.70) and an average 
value of 5s. 6d. ($1.34). The other isin Hampshire and includes 32,687 
acres with a range of annual values from Is. 6d. ($0.36) to £1 10s. 
($7.30) and an average value of 3s. 6d. ($0.85). The average quality 
of these areas is undoubtedly far superior to those of the forestry 
commission cited above, but the average assessment is probably 
higher than it should be, since it would appear that some of the owners 
were too ignorant or too indolent to secure a just assessment. 
The annual value of sporting rights, if any, should be included in 
the assessment under schedule A. When the annual value includes 
sporting rights no clear differentiation is made between the value of 
these rights and other values, but in a general way the annual value 
