The evening times. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1906-1914, 1910-09-07

not hasten the destruction of forest
lands. the exploitation of minerals
and the cultivation Of the soil. Where
lands bearing timber are owned. in
terest charges with each year of own
ership are piled up, and the same is
true OF the taxes. Where. on the 9TH
er hand, lands are held through a
royalty contract, the lessee is in a
position to carry the lands without
special cost to himself except that of
the taxes. The consequence Is that
it is impossible to apply the same
principle of taxation to agricultural
lands. timber lands, mineral and wa
ter powers. There must be differ
entiation between them, and differ
entiation that will clearly meet the
different uses to which they are put.
Without question, the general proper
ty tax, as it now stands upon the
statute books of he different states.
does not meet in any true sense OF
the term the general economic condi-
; tions and the special needs of mining
and timbering in particular. The
principle of taxing the product when
!, it is placed upon the market applies
particularly to mineral and timber
lands, but the same principle in the
case rsagricultural lands would prob
ably deter their use and fail to meet
the needs of revenue as we'll as work.
ing to the discouragement of the ag-
ricultural industry. The single-tax-
ers have insisted that the taxation of
land hastens it's use, that if forces the
owner to develop it, and this is just
-, = T., loI s,, t,n
instances of agricultural lands and OF
town lots, but the same principle
could not be applied to the other re-
sources of the nation. 1t is possible
for the owners of timber lands by
following the principles of forestry to
modify the product and to keep the
land in producing condition indet1-
nitely. Taxation of such land, there
fore. should have in view the mainte-
nance of this condition. it must be
clearly understood, however, that the
fear of fire, interest charges on in
vestment, and the cost of manage
ment will act quite as surely toward
the rapid destruction of forests as
will taxation. These conditions must
also be recognized by the state in the
establishment of fire warden sys-
TEN and the encouragement of fores-
i tration through some plan of non
uses. Where forestration is not
practiccd. the taxation of timber pro-
ducts under present conditions,
whether on stumpage or in transit to
! the sawmills, is serious problem
serious to the local governments, be-
cause under existing laws logs IN
| transit are taxable where they are
owned, and serious to the owners OF
| the timber lands, because the fixed
charges on their property increase
each day without any income from
them. AS near as can be ascertained,
the taxes on timber vary from one
cent per thousand feet to fifty cents
per thousand feet, with an average
tax of somewhere in the neighborhood
of fifteen cents per thousand feet IN
terest charges are probably about
| twenty-three cents, making total
annual cost of something like thirty
eight cents per thousand feet. In ten
years time the tax on each thousand
feet of standing timber will amount to
S1.5O, which compounded with inter-
est makes a total of $3.S7. When ad-
ded to the other charges it is prob
under modern conditions must have
at least $13.O2 per thousand feet on
his logs delivered at the mill If he is
to come out even at the end OF ten
years with profit of six percent
Separation of Land and Timber.
"The suggestions which have been
made from time to time regarding the
taxation of timber have as their fun
damental principle the separation OF
the value of the land from the value
of the timber. This plan meets the
criticism of the local assessing OFF,
GERS by providing a basis of taxing
annually part of the valuation and
OF producing some income for the To-
cal government. If it is understood
that the land may be taxed annually
! and the timber product when 1t is
cut, we have under this plan simple
scheme of taxation which will un-
! questionably meet the difficulty that
is now urged against the general
property assessment of timber lands.
Under the old plan of valuing annual
ly the property, it was difficult to
secure an appraisement that was sat-
isfactory to anybody, and what was
| more, as the years went by the local
governments found their assessed
values decreasing and the burden Of
government materially increasing
with the decline in amount of stand
ing timber. The annual taxation Of
the land upon which the timber
stands meets this difficulty, while the
taxation Of the product at the time of
harvesting provides plan that is
fair both to the local government and
to the owner of timber.
Mineral Taxation.
ION the other hand, the taxation Of
mineral properties differ from the
taxation OF timber lands in that it Is
not possible for the owner to increase
by any plan Of conservation the
amount Of tonnage that he has in his
possession. The conservation which
he might practice is the simple con-
servation of saving for a future time.
From the point Of view Of the state