468 MISC. PUBLICATION 218, U. 8S. DEPT. OF AGRICULTURE 
may levy an aggregate additional rate (Zuschlag) of 2 percent 
(260, p. 21). The proceeds of the national tax, after deduction of 4 
percent for cost of administration, also go to the States and communes. 
The tax applies to transfers of all landed properties with the exception 
of transfers which are liable to the inheritance and gift tax, transfers 
within a family, certain formal transfers which are transfers only in 
name, and transfers which serve certain charitable ends. The Na- 
tional Government, States, communes, and educational, charitable, 
religious, and public insurance institutions are exempt. Transactions 
are also exempt if the market value does not exceed 50RM ($11.90). 
The rate of the tax is increased by 2 percent if within 3 years from the 
sale a portion of the property forming an integral part thereof is 
resold with the obvious end in view of disintegrating wholly or in 
part an economic unit of property for purposes of speculative gain 
(255). 
CHURCH TAXES 
Taxes in support of churches (Kirchensteuern) are compulsory and, 
although the rates are fixed, within certain legal limitations, by the 
churches themselves, the taxes are collected by the Government. 
The taxes are paid either to the Evangelical Church or to the Catholic 
Church, according to the professed faith of the taxpayer. The 
church taxes are levied as additional rates on the national income 
tax. In addition, some States levy additional church rates on the 
national property tax and on the land tax, house tax, and business 
tax. In Prussia the churches may also levy a poll tax (Kopfsteuer). 
In Bavaria a differentiation is made between the additional rates of 
the local churches levied by the local parish and the additional rates 
of the State church. The latter in recent years have amounted to 
4 percent for the Catholic Church and to 5 percent for the Evan- 
gelical Church. The additional rates for the local churches vary 
according to the requirements of the parishes. In the rural parishes 
rates are applied up to 15 percent, but in general the rates range from 
6 to 10 percent (265, pp. 201-205). 
THE VALUATION OF FORESTS FOR TAX PURPOSES 
INTRODUCTION 
One of the most important problems of forest taxation is the 
assessment; that is, the valuation of forests for tax purposes. For 
this reason, the methods of valuation used in Germany will be studied 
in some detail in order that these methods may be compared with the 
practice in the United States. 
The capital valuation of forest property is required both for the 
national property tax (Reichsvermégensteuer) and for the land tax 
(Grundsteuer) as a substitute for the old cadastre. The valuation 
for national taxes is known as the uniform value (Hinheitswert) for 
the reason that this valuation has been prescribed as obligatory in all 
the States of Germany as a uniform basis for all taxes levied on prop- 
erty values, including the land tax. The uniform value is also used 
as the basis for the national inheritance and gift tax (Erbschaftsteuer). 
Prior to 1925, the time of the first appraisal under the uniform-value 
plan, the only national tax valuation of property for all the States 
was that introduced in 1913 for the purpose of the so-called ‘‘defense 
tax’? and known as the defense-tax value (Wehrbeitragswert). The 
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