FOREST TAXATION IN THE UNITED STATES 513 
1927. Using the same year as an example, the total taxable income of 
the country communes was 6,332,000,000 markkaa ($160,000,000), and 
the tax was 417,000,000 markkaa ($11,000,000), an average rate of 
about 6.6 percent (282, p. 233). 
The national income tax rates are progressive, ranging from about 
0.5 percent to a maximum of 20 percent.™ 
SPECIAL COMMUNAL INCOME TAX 
Besides the regular communal income tax, there is a special tax on 
proceeds from disposition of forest products, including money receipts 
from the sale of such products, and the value of products used by the 
owner in connection with a separate enterprise, but not including the 
value of material used on the forest orfarm. This tax is a transitional 
measure, leading to the time when the communal taxation will be 
based entirely on normal net yield. It is being gradual y abandoned, 
by taking as the tax base each year a smaller part of the actual pro- 
ceeds. In 1923, 60 percent of the net proceeds was the base, and this 
percentage is being reduced 5 percent each year. Thus in 1930 the 
tax base was 25 percent of the net proceeds, and in 1935 it will dis- 
appear. The rate of this tax is the same as the regular communal 
income-tax rate. The gradual elimination of this tax means a real 
reduction in the tax burden on forests, though the communal tax rate 
on al taxable income may have to be increased somewhat to make up 
the loss in revenue. 
TAXATION OF PUBLICLY OWNED FORESTS 
Practically all of the public!y owned forests are held by the National 
Government. Communal! income taxes are paid on such forests to 
the rural communes in which they are located. Through 1932 these 
taxes were levied on only one-half of the income, and the income 
figure used for this purpose was the actual income from sa‘e of prod- 
ucts and from other sources and not the normal average income as in 
the case of private forests. The costs directly connected with the 
realization of income, as the expenses connected with making a timber 
sa'e, were deducted in determining the amount of the income subject 
to taxation, but the genera administrative expenses of the forest 
were not deducted. The law on this subject was amended in 1932, 
and since that year the actual income from sales is used as the basis 
for taxation of public forests in only three of the northernmost com- 
munes, and here the total actual! income instead of one-half of that 
sum is taxable. In all other communes, the average net annual income 
is now assessed in the same manner as a ready described for privately 
owned forests. However, only three-fourths of this assessed income 
is taxable, except that the National Government is authorized at its 
discretion to permit the communes to tax a higher portion or all of 
this assessed income. 
The national forests are ‘argely in the northern part of the country 
and are very unevenly distributed among the communes. ‘Therefore 
some communes get substantial revenue from taxes on national forests 
while others get little or nothing. In recent years taxes on national 
forests have amounted to about 5,000,000 SMK ($126,000) per year. 
& Rates ot 1926, calcu.ated from an income tax tabulation by income categories (282, p. 267). 
101285 °—35. 33 
