Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1912-08-28
FOREST TAXATION.
Views of Prof. T. X. Fairchild, of
Yale University.

From the Boston TrGnscript.l
n..-
~ the ;n,erss,;n,, s ,s =, ar aanrsn ~,
ton of the Nations; Foresters, aszocia,io,
held recently al Breton Woods. N. Fl.
Prof. F. r. Fairchild. OF Yale uniyer
/ sity, delivered an address. He ex
planned first that the American gen
eral property tax is faulty In theor,
and in practice and is utterly unsuited t.
! modern conditions. The other nations o.
the world have generally abandoned it
and here in the United States movement
away from II is to be seen in the special
taxation of corporations.
Bad as the general property tax is for
wealth in general, Il is especially unsuited
to the taxation OF timberisnds. This is
because OF the long time which must often
elapse between the investment OF wealth
in forestry and the securing OF the income,
During this time growing timber Il taxed
over and ovsr again and tho burae, ~
taxes with accumulated interest niles mn
! an 4, NAV finally take away a good share
:. ,b, ent,rs ,nnome OF the foreet
r.., ..,.,,,,io, ,au. rr.,,h h.re besn
| - -, 49,, = a.,
-, =, $500, 80 a.~.-;ss., -.
/
ialiuse poih'eo out anu "a
ine inesnous Vi taxing forests IN Europe
were descrioea, tine speaker concluding
tnat "wnhe we doubtless nave mucn TO
learn from european experience, no one
familiar with the subject would think OF
suggesting that any European system be
introduced bodily here. knowledge Of
European experience will not relieve as OF
the necessity OF developing a system OF
taxation OF our own suited to American
conditions.
After showing that a tax based on CAPT.
tai value, or Expectation value, il not
adapted to American conditions. the
speaker urged the advantages of the sim
pie tax on the yield when cut. He said !:
.sThis method suits any kind OF forest
management, Il has nothing to do with
yield tables, rates of interest, future prices
of timber or complicated calculations. 1t
eliminates the element of risk from the
tax problem. Moreover, taxation ceases
to be an obstacle in the way Of the hest
forest MANAGEMENT. Without p,,ttipv
any hardship on the owner. the tax would
probabiv WELD g larger revenpe than IL
now obtained.n
Attention was called IN a cornror;ss
MAN of taxing the land Annually n, ;,s
value az hare land and in,nosiny an ss-
ditionaI tax ON the WELD when chr Tbs
sneaker shorea varion. affections IN th;.
nla,. bpt admitted that !, might he u,o,l
obtained
prof Char,es 4 Rulloce NJ uarvars
u,,varsi,v srol. IN the sar,s snb,.c, Cd
vocat,ng the copnroris. r,an s,s,s,.s,a al
bv prof Pa;-chita for m. taxot;o, "a
forests He sai5 in coneI,,s;on.
az he,;ava that the hs,ef,ts =, mi.
r,a,boa ~ ,ax.,;or sho,,a NJ, - av-
taraea whoIassIe 70 ali torss, ,a,a hr,
sbon,d he grsn,ed opl,- N s,oh la ~
vo,, he re,;s,srsd ,r;th ,ha s,a+a -,
denar,r,a,t and car,isas 70 ~, ,.a, A.
nart,en, az s,i,ohl. 20 hs aa,o,as -
rnanentlv 70 torest ,,,rrosos p.,.;at-a
tion should no conditional mo, i, he ,,,,rsr
~ torsst land sorsa;r, - .o,,,,,,. To-,
s,,cb regulations az rho forss, darar.,a.
NAV r,sLa copco-p;r,, ,;ro ,,ro,...;o,, =
rron the turt her agraa,na,, 80 go,
nrorsr ,h,as ~ torss, ,,,anao.a,, :,
mich, he aesirab,e tpr,h.- - o,ass;,r
forests and ir,ross lo,var "a, -
ianas h;c, in the mir ;r,aros, -,
-, ha ,,ar,,ora,,,t,, ,[,ras,a5 80 ,.e1.os.se.,
1 -