FOREST TAXATION IN THE UNITED STATES 529 
THE ABSOLUTE BURDEN OF TAXATION ON FORESTS 
The heavy burden of taxation which rests upon forests may be the 
result, not only of defects in the property tax, both inherent and 
administrative, but of causes which produce a heavy tax burden in 
general. In other words, it is conceivable that, even if the property 
tax were perfectly adjusted to the peculiarities of forestry and per- 
fectly adm nistered and the tax burden were equitably distributed, 
the taxes on forest property might in some places be greater than the 
traffic could bear. Where this has proved to be the case, the causes 
must be sought in the structure and functioning of local government. 
The high cost of government in many rural districts can be attrib- 
uted to a needless multiplicity of local governmental units, an ill- 
advised distribution of functions among the several jurisdictions, and 
inefficient administration. The existence of a multitude of counties, 
townships, school districts, and numerous special districts of one 
kind or another creates an army of public officials, multiplies overhead 
costs, and results in duplication of effort and diffusion of responsibility. 
The lack of balance between governmental obligations and the 
economic resources with which to support them introduces very great 
inequalities in tax burden. The distribution of functions frequently 
bears no relation to scope of benefit, ability to support, or economy of 
administration. Finally, the operation of governmentis largely in 
the hands of untrained officials using obsolete tools and working 
without supervision and without unity of purpose. Rural local 
government is, in the main, archaic and irresponsible and, as a 
consequence, inefficient and wasteful. There results a cost of govern- 
ment greater than is necessary to provide the service which govern- 
ment is rendering, with a correspondingly excessive burden of taxa- 
tion—upon all taxpayers. 
There is also the question whether many State and local govern- 
ments are furnishing functions which, however desirable they may be, 
are beyond the public’s means. A governmental service, no less 
than any enjovment which people purchase directly, may be beyond 
what the public can afford under present conditions. Even though 
the service be intrinsically useful, and even though it be furnished 
economically at the lowest possible cost, it may still not be worth 
what it costs. In such case, the resulting tax burden is excessive, to 
the extent that the people might obtain greater utility through spend- 
ing their money directly rather than paying it to government in the 
form of taxes. The resulting burden of taxation lacks the justification 
of corresponding public benefit. Here again all taxpayers are affected. 
In brief, forest enterprise may suffer adverse effects from a tax 
burden which is absolutely excessive, either because public functions 
are costing more than they should or because public functions are 
being furnished which the people cannot afford. 
OTHER TAXES 
It has by now been made sufficiently clear that the forest-taxation 
problem arises from the property tax almost exclusively. Certain 
other forms of taxation were dismissed in the introductory part of this 
report (p. 11) as having obviously no substantial bearing upon the 
subject of this investigation; these included business taxes, corporation 
101285°—35——-34 
