620 MISC. PUBLICATION 218, U. S. DEPT. OF AGRIUCLTURE 
DIMINISHED RELIANCE ON THE PROPERTY TAX 
In the section immediately preceding, attention was given to the 
possibility of relief to forest property through a broadening of the 
base of the property tax. A somewhat similar question is presented 
by the charge, referred to earlier (p. 528), that the predominant 
position of the property tax (as compared with other revenue sources) 
in American State and local finance places an unjust tax burden upon 
taxable property in general and forest property inparticular. Inthe 
brief discussion of this question in the previous section, no attempt 
was made to answer the fundamental questions: (1) Whether the 
admitted predominance of the property tax actually is a defect, and 
(2) what actually would be the result upon forest property of a change 
in the tax system which would place greater reliance on other forms 
of taxation. There would appear to be little doubt that, other things 
being equal, a diminished reliance upon the property tax would tend 
in some degree to relieve the burden of taxation on forest property, 
although it would be quite impossible to follow all the ramifications 
in order to determine precisely the magnitude of such relief. To the 
question of the justice of the present reliance on property taxation it 
would probably be impossible to find a conclusive answer. In fact, 
for the present purpose the answer to this question is of minor 
importance. What is of far greater concern is an estimate of the 
probable development of the tax system in this respect and its prob- 
able effect upon the burden of forest taxes. In this connection it is 
to be noted that changing conditions have already brought into 
existence new forms of taxation, and that the States have for some 
time been gradually diminishing their dependence on the property 
tax for the support of State government. In many of the most 
important States the property tax now furnishes only a minor source 
of State (as contrasted with local) revenue. In some States it is not 
so used at all. 
In the course of time the weaknesses of the property tax have made 
themselves more and more evident, and the public is gradually becom- 
ing aware of its shortcomings. At various special points the sway of 
the property tax has been weakened, as, for instance, in the taxation 
of public-service and public-utility corporations, and to some degree 
also as regards manufacturing and mercantile corporations. The 
weakening here has been largely due to difficulties in local assessment 
rather than to any inherent fault of the property tax itself. In spite 
of these developments, the property tax still remains a very important 
source of State revenue, and almost the exclusive source of local reve- 
nue. By and large, the introduction of new sources of revenue has 
as yet not even sufficed to offset the constantly increasing cost of 
government which has marked the history of the last half century. 
Indeed, the actual burden of the property tax, though not its relative 
place in the tax system, has materially incr eased. Inthe realm of local 
finance the predominant position of the property tax has as yet been 
scarcely threatened. 
There is without doubt today a wide-spread feeling that the property 
tax is still bearing more than its share of the cost of government. 
This sentiment may be expected to continue and possibly to increase 
in strength. It is quite likely that there may come some broadening 
of the revenue base of counties and towns through placing greater 
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