Privately-owned forests throughout the United States provide many goods and services to our people and economy, including timber, wildlife habitat, and clean air and water. In order to make sure that those goods and services are around for the future, all fifty states offer programs that lower property taxes on enrolled private forestland.
In order to better understand these programs, we reviewed the laws in all fifty states. We found a wide variety of justifications, methods for implementation, and impacts of the laws around the country. Most states, including twelve of thirteen states in the U.S. South, justify the property tax programs as a way to promote production of timber. Other common justifications include maintaining open space and the overall sustainability of forests. About two-thirds of states have requirements about the largest or smallest forest parcel that is allowed to enroll, and about half of states require a written management plan for the forest. The impacts vary from state to state and region to region, also. In the U.S. South, 1.8 million individuals and entities have enrolled about 112 million acres of forest, which is about half of the total national participation in these programs. The estimated average annual tax reduction ranges widely from under two dollars per acre in states such as Colorado, Michigan, and South Carolina, to over thirty dollars per acre in states such as Kansas, Kentucky, and Ohio. It is our hope that this research will help policy makers and researchers understand differences between state policies to design and improve programs in the future.