FOREST TAXATION IN THE UNITED STATES 457 
PROPERTY NO. 4 
Property no. 4 has a total area of 3,000 hectares (7,410 acres), and 
it consists prnecipally of maritime pine. Its market value was 
estimated by the manager from 4,000 to 4,500 francs per hectare 
($63.40 to $71.40 per acre). In 1929 the net income after taxes was 
250 francs per hectare. 
In 1929 the land taxes (amp6t foncier and centimes additionnels) 
amounted to 7.02 francs per hectare. ‘This was at arate of 2.7 percent 
of net income before taxes and of slightly over one-sixth of 1 percent 
on a property value of 4,000 francs. The figures for the years im- 
mediately preceding were approximately the same as for 1929. 
The amount of the tax on agricultural profits (bénéfices de |’exploi- 
tation agricole) was not ascertained. 
EFFECT OF TAXATION ON THE PRACTICE OF FORESTRY 
It is evident that the land taxes levied in France do not constitute 
a serious handicap to forestry in spite of the fact that they are levied 
annuaily and must be paid regardless of the actual income from the 
forest. The reason these taxes are not very burdensome is, (1) that 
the rates are low relative to actual value and income and, (2) that the 
larger forests are so organized and managed as to yield income an- 
nually, while the small wood lots, where income is necessarily periodic, 
are usually owned in connection with farms or other real estate 
yielding annual income. There is a strong probability that the 
revaluation which is expected to become effective after 1935 will in- 
crease somewhat the burden of the land taxes, but this may not be 
the case if the forest owners succeed in their efforts to have it made on 
a favorable basis. 
In spite of the moderate rate of the land taxes, the French Govern- 
ment has recognized the difficulties connected with the establishment 
of new forest plantations by granting special exemptions for the period 
of 30 years in favor of such plantations. These exemptions are 
justified by the lack of current income during this period and the 
public interest in the extension of forestry. The public interest is 
safeguarded by the public control exercised as a condition of the 
exemption. This policy seems consistent with the fact that the 
establishment of new forests by private owners is also favored, under 
certain conditions, by direct Government subsidies. 
The forest-tax problem in France does not center upon the annual 
property tax as in the United States, but on the registration taxes 
imposed when prope ty is transferred. It is the taxes on transfers 
between living persons and those on estates transferred by inheritance 
which in France have threatened private forestry and placed a 
premium on the destruction of forests, particularly of those which 
contain adequate reserves of saw-timber size. This is a recent 
problem, growing out of the heavy eharges imposed on the public 
treasury by the World War. As above noted, some progress has been 
made in improving this situation so far as transfers between living 
persons are concerned, and there is at present (1933) a serious effort 
to change the laws governing inheritance taxes with a view to re- 
moving the danger to conservatively managed private forest estates. 
