Opinion ID: 527087
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Tax

Text: 5 In California, all real property, with certain exceptions, is subject to an ad valorem property tax. Cal. Const. art. XIII, Sec. 1; see also Cal.Rev. p Tax Code Sec. 104. To promote sound timber management, conservation, and production, in 1976 the state modified the ad valorem tax as it applied to timber and replaced it with a yield and reserves tax, collectively known as the timber yield tax. Cal.Rev. & Tax Code Secs. 38101-38908 (timber reserves tax repealed by 1982 Cal.Stat., Ch. 1058); see generally W. Unkel & D. Cromwell, California's Timber Yield Tax, 6 Ecology L.Q. 831 (1978). The yield tax is assessed at the time of harvest on the value of timber at the time of harvest and is imposed on the first entity to acquire ownership of felled timber. Cal.Rev. & Tax Code Sec. 38104-38110. If the first owner is exempt from taxation, the timber yield tax is due from the first non-exempt person to acquire legal or beneficial title to the timber. Sec. 38104; Cal.Adm.Code Pub.Rev.R. 1026.