430 MISC. PUBLICATION 218, U. S. DEPT. OF AGRICULTURE 
between £100 ($490) and £500 ($2,430) in value to 50 percent on the 
whole value of estates of over £2,000,000 ($9,700,000). 
There are certain statutory reliefs and exemptions from the estate 
duty, only a few of which particularly concern forest property. All 
agricultural lands, including woodlands, are taxable according to the 
1919 schedule of rates, which is somewhat less onerous than the 
schedule of 1930. This relief applies only to the value of the land 
and not to that of the timber. Reductions in the taxes levied, varying 
from 50 to 10 percent, are allowed when a second death causes the 
property to pass by inheritance within 1 to 5 years of the first death. 
There are also special concessions to woodlands, which will be 
explained later. 
Succession duty is payable by the successor on the value to him of 
property derived from a predecessor. It is in general charged only on 
real property and leaseholds. The rates of this succession tax 
depend not on the amount of the succession but on the relationship of 
the successor to the predecessor. The husband or wife, children and 
their lineal descendants, including the husband or wife of any such 
person, and the father or mother or any lineal ancestor pay a rate of 1 
percent. Brothers and sisters and their descendants and the husband 
or wife of any such person pay arate of 5 percent. Other relatives and 
strangers pay arate of 10 percent. Succession duty is liable to exemp- 
tions and concessions similar to those granted for estate duty. 
Legacy duty is a duty similar to succession duty but imposed on the 
legatee on succession to personal property. The rates of legacy duty 
are the same as those of succession duty cited above. 
Death duties weigh very heavily on agricultural estates, for the 
money income which such estates yield is low in comparison ‘with the 
capital value for which they may be sold. Also overvaluation by 
inventory methods which do not take adequate account of the value 
of the property as a whole may be a factor in making these taxes 
burdensome. 
In regard to timber on an estate, several special concessions are 
allowed. The value of the timber is not included in calculating the 
total value of an estate for the purpose of determining the rate. 
Thus if an estate is entirely agricultural and is valued at £105,000, and 
if £40,000 of this value resides in the trees and timber, then death 
duties are payable at the appropriate rate for an estate of £65 000 
(12 percent) and not at the rate for £105,000, which would have been 
14 percent. Death duty is paid on the value of the timber at the rate 
assessed for the remainder of the estate, but only if and when the 
timber is cut. The timber is valued at the time of death; and as 
timber is subsequently cut duty will be paid, at the rate due, on the 
net receipts from each sale after deducting necessary expenses since 
the time of death. These deductions are very important, since the 
owner may deduct from the principal not only the costs of selling the 
timber and management in the interim but the cost of replanting if the 
area isreplanted. If in the course of time duty is paid on an amount 
equal to the valuation of the timber at time of death, then lability to 
duty ceases. For example, if the timber is valued for probate at 
£10,000, and the successor has to pay 20 percent in estate and succes- 
sion duty, his total liability is £2,000. If he cuts £1,000 worth of 
timber each year and replants the land, then the duties will be paid 
off in 10 years, but instead of paying £2,000 he will pay 20 percent 
