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- Info
State tax systems and their effects on nonindustrial private forest owners
| Author: |
Greene, J.L. |
| Date: |
1995 |
| Periodical: |
In: Managing Forests to Meet Peoples' Needs: Proceedings of the 1994 Society of American/Canadian Institute of Forestry Convention; 1994 September 18-22; Anchorage, AK. SSAF Publication SAF-95-02. Bethesda, MD: Society of American Foresters |
| Abstract: |
The Forest Law and Economics Research Unit is initiating a study of the effect of state to systems on returns to forest management. A tax system is defined as all the taxes a forestland owner regularly pays: property tax, harvest taxes, and income tax. For this paper, a computer spreadsheet of a loblolly pine management plan was used to assess the tax systems of six states: Arkansas, Florida, and Louisiana in the South, and Alaska, California, and Washington in the West. The systems in Florida and Alaska consist solely of a property tax, but their approaches to assessment result in markedly different average rates. Washington's tax system combines a low property tax and a moderate harvest tax. The Arkansas, Louisiana, and California systems contain all three types of taxes, but average rates vary from state to state. The effect of a state tax system is related more to tax rates than to the number of taxes: the Florida and Washington systems reduced returns to management by 11 to 14 percent, the Louisiana and California systems by 16 to 20 percent, and the Arkansas and Alaska systems by 23 to 26 percent. |
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