of Finance and Taxation, or the State Board of 

 Equalization, to render assistance to said Com- 

 missioner or State Board in ascertaining the 

 value of any or all . . . timberlands in the State, 

 to the end that such property may be accurately 

 assessed at its actual cash value." 



Sec. 67-606 and 607, 



Tennessee Code Annotated. 

 A State Assessors' Manual, including infor- 

 mation on the assessment of timber and forest 

 lands, is being prepared. 



TEXAS 



". ... the Land Commissioner shall furnish . . . 

 to the various . . . tax assessors ... a full and 

 complete list of all timber sold by the State be- 

 longing to the school funds, giving the number 

 of acres, price and to whom sold, in the respec- 

 tive counties where the timber so sold is situ- 

 ated . . ." 



Revised Civil Statutes, Art. 7173. 



"Where timber has been sold separately and 

 apart from land, though standing, it is taxable 

 separately and apart from the land and to the 

 owner. This rule applies whether the timber 



stands on land owned by the State or indi- 

 viduals . . ." (p. 35) 



"Timber held by persons or corporations 

 heretofore or hereafter purchased from the 

 State under the various laws for that purpose, 

 shall likewise be subject to assessments for 

 taxes and the value thereof for taxation shall 

 be ascertained as the value of other property is 

 ascertained. . . ."(p. 35) 



County Tax Assessor — Collector Instruc- 

 tion Manual 



Comptroller of Public Accounts. 



(n.d.) 



UTAH 



"Real estate includes: 



(a) The possession of, claim to, ownership 

 of or right to the possession of land. 



(b) ... all timber belonging to individuals 

 or corporations growing or being on 



the lands of this state or the United 

 States, and all rights and privileges 

 appertaining thereto." (p. 6) 



Property Tax Manual, 



State Tax Commission, 1950. 



VERMONT 



INTRODUCTION 



The appraisal of timberland in Vermont var- 

 ies considerably from town to town. No doubt 

 it varies even within the towns. It is a tre- 

 mendous problem, not only in Vermont, but 

 throughout the entire United States. Consider- 

 able study has been devoted to the subject in 

 the various states with some of them using a 

 "severance tax" in lieu of the property tax. In 

 Vermont you listers are supposed to appraise all 

 property at its "fair market value." Realizing 

 the difficulties under which you labor in regard 

 to your remuneration and the limited amount of 

 time in which to complete your work, we hope 

 the following information and recommendations 



1 Timberland Appraisal Guide, Vermont Tax Dep. 13 

 pp. 1960. Due to current trends in land values, the 

 Guide was recently withdrawn. It is included in this 

 compilation to illustrate a simplified approach to forest 

 assessment suited to use by assessing officers lacking 

 specialized training or experience in estimating timber 

 volumes and values. 



will serve as a guide to help you achieve 

 EQUITY when appraising timberland. 



The appraisal of property differs from state 

 to state, depending on the amount of money 

 available by the taxing district, whether it is a 

 town, city, county or state. Our recommenda- 

 tions will take into consideration the conditions 

 that exist here in Vermont. We must remember 

 it takes a long time to grow trees. Whoever has 

 his money invested in timberland is entitled to 

 a fair return on his investment. Often it will not 

 be a yearly return, and in some cases there will 

 not be any return during the lifetime of the 

 taxpayer. Another peculiarity of timberland is 

 that the trees have to be assessed for taxes and 

 the owner cannot realize any income from the 

 property, other than from maple sugar or- 

 chards, without cutting the trees. We must be 

 fair with the taxpayer and the town for which 

 we work. Therefore, we want to be sure the 

 various types of timberland are NOT appraised 

 so high the taxpayer tvill be forced to cut his 

 timber off completely in order to pay the taxes. 



70 



