FOREST TAXATION IN THE UNITED STATES 497 
trary income figure determined by the first step in the adjustment of 
the assessed value, as described above. From the residual net income 
is deducted a personal exemption, which varies with the cost of living 
in the ocality in which the taxpayer resides (the country is divided 
into five districts for ths purpose on the basis of the costs of living) 
and with the number of persons in the family. The amount remain- 
ing after the deduction of the personal exemption is the taxable net 
income. The income tax base is determined by dividing the taxable 
net income by 100. Thisis done, of course, to place the income-tax 
base on the same basis as the real-estate tax base. 
The income-tax base is then added to the real-estate tax base and 
this total tax base is multiplied by a flat tax rate (the sum of the com- 
munal, parish, and school-district rates) to determine the communal 
income-real estate tax. 
PROVINCIAL COUNCIL TAX 
Several different governmental units are allowed to levy taxes on 
the communal income-real estate tax base. One of these units is the 
province. The tax, called the provincial council tax,is determined by 
applying the provincial council tax rate to the communal income-real 
estate tax base. This taxis usually much smaller than the communal 
income-real estate tax. 
ASSIZE DIVISION TAX 
The assize division (judicial district) also levies a tax on the com- 
munal income-real estate tax base. This tax is extremely small. 
ROAD TAX 
Contributions for road maintenance are made either by actual labor 
in keeping a certain length of road in good condition or by a tax con- 
tribution. Any owner of real estate not contributing in actual labor 
is subject to the road tax. This tax is principally a real property tax, 
and income enters into the tax base only to a sma | extent. 
The base for the road tax is called the ‘‘vagfyrk.’”’ The real estate 
part of the road-tax base in the case of privately owned farm and for- 
est property is determined by dividing the assessed value by 100. In 
the case of forest property in public ownership the assessed value is 
divided by 150 and in the case of other real estate the assessed value 
is divided by 200. In computing the income part of the road-tax base, 
the taxable net income is divided by 15. The sum of the real estate 
part and the income part of the road-tax base is the total road-tax 
base. As stated above, this is expressed in terms of units called 
“vaofyrk.” The road tax is determined by applying the road 
district tax rate to the road-tax base. This tax is usually quite large. 
For the ordinary run of rural real estate it usually ranks next in amount 
to the communal income-real estate tax and the national income- 
property tax. 
FOREST EXCISE TAX 
The forest excise tax is intended as a rough offset to the relatively 
low arbitrary income rate used in computing the tax base in respect to 
forest growing stock under the communal income-real estate tax. 
The base for this tax in any 1 year is the stumpage value of timber 
cut during the year. The communal tax rate on this base is one- 
101285°—35——-32 
