GEORGIA 



Although no forest assessment guides have 

 been adopted by the State, a proposed guide 

 was prepared in 1965 as a cooperative proj- 

 ect of the University of Georgia School of 

 Forestry, Georgia Forest Research Council, 

 Georgia Forestry Commission, and College of 

 Agriculture Experiment Station. The material 

 that follows is taken from this publication. 1 



INTRODUCTION 



F. R. Fairchild in his thorough study, Forest 

 Taxation in The United States, stated: "The 

 ideal tax system is that which accomplishes, in 

 a workable and not too expensive fashion, an 

 equitable distribution of the cost of govern- 

 ment among all persons having an interest in 

 the government. To be ideal the tax system 

 must first of all be workable. A tax system 

 which is incapable of effective administration, 

 which is uncertain as to the amount of the 

 taxpayer's liability or which encourages eva- 

 sion and fraud must be rejected, whatever 

 other virtues it may claim. Secondly, the oper- 

 ation of the system must not be too expensive 

 in comparison with the revenue received. 

 Thirdly, the system must accomplish an equi- 

 table distribution of the cost of government. 



"The ideal method of taxing forests is that 

 which will require a just contribution from 

 forest owners, while being of such form as 

 will not place a special obstacle (beyond what 

 any just tax may impose) in the way of the 

 best use of the forests and forest lands from 

 the viewpoint of the public interest. In pur- 

 suance of this ideal, a balance must be struck 

 between the needs of the forest owners and 

 the needs of the forest communities. The forest 

 owner should have the opportunity to pursue 

 his forest business without the obstacle of 

 unreasonable taxation ; the forest community, 

 on the other hand, should supply money to 

 finance necessary government expenses. 



"It is not to be presumed that an ideal tax 

 system would require that large areas of forest 

 or other land be placed on the delinquent-tax 

 rolls year after year. To confiscate forest prop- 

 erty by taxation is as much against public 

 policy as to exempt it from carrying its fair 

 share of governmental burdens." - 



JUSTIFICATION OF PROPOSAL 



Georgia's basic land tax is the ad valorem 

 tax. There is at present no yield, severance, or 

 modified forest land tax. Investigations of the 

 history of these types of taxes in other states 

 lead the authors to believe that they offer no 

 basis for improving the forest land tax situa- 

 tion in Georgia. The yield tax presents serious 

 problems because of fluctuations in income 

 from year to year, which would not be ac- 

 ceptable to many local governments. The sever- 

 ance tax has no relationship to the property 

 tax. It is a tax levied in addition to the prop- 

 erty tax. Modified taxes on forest lands create 

 many problems and complexities which seem 

 undesirable. 



Currently the Georgia Code specifies that 

 "All property shall be returned for taxation at 

 its fair market value." 3 An assessment ratio 

 is usually applied to the fair market value to 

 arrive at the assessed or taxable value. Georgia 

 courts have consistently held that standing 

 timber in realty. 4 



As soon as timber is severed from the stump 

 it becomes personalty."' Under these holdings 

 the trees must be considered as part of the 

 land and, as such, considered in setting the as- 

 sessed value of the land. However, agricultural 

 products are expressly exempt from ad valorem 

 taxation by statutory provisions. 6 



The assessment of standing timber in the 

 same manner as the land which supports it is 

 fundamentally wrong. When land and timber 

 are assessed together or when the value of the 

 existing timber stand is added to the value of 

 the land for purposes of determining annual 

 taxation, the annual growth of each year in 

 the life of the stand is taxed during every 

 subsequent year until harvest. 



In other words, the growth which occurs the 

 year a stand is established is taxed not only 

 during that year, but in all other years of the 

 rotation. With a 30-year rotation, the first 

 year's growth is taxed 28 times, and so on. 

 The difference between an annual crop, like 

 cotton, and a crop harvested only once in a 

 period of years, like timber, is obvious. The 

 fact that the annual growth of a timber stand 

 is not harvested each year should not make 



1 Proposed Assessment Guide for Forest Lands in 

 Georgia. Georgia Forest Research Council, Rep. 11, 24 

 pp. 1965. 



- Fairchild, Fred R., et al. 1935. Forest Taxation in 

 the United States. U.S.D.A. Misc. Publ. 218. Introduc- 

 tion. 



*Ga. Code Ann. §92-5701 (1961). 

 * Moore V. Vickers, §126 Ga. 42, 54 S.E. 814 (1906). 

 ■< Graham V. West, 126 Ga. 624, 55 S.E. 931 (1906). 

 «Ga. Code Ann. §5-606 (1962). 



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