Page 22 - Georgia Forestry - Winter 2018

Keeping Georgia
Competitive
Taxation, Forestry License Plate, Lumber Bans Top 2018 State Legislative Priorities
The Georgia Forestry Association and Commission toured logging and manufacturing operations with Congressional staffers in 2017.
Ad Valorem Taxation
Story by Tom Beyer
The Georgia Forestry Association’s Government Affairs Team will once again be highly active and engaged during the 2018 legislative session, defending our Core Principles to:
protect private property rights;
ensure sensible taxes and
regulations; and
promote healthy markets for forest products.
The Association has set an aggressive legislative agenda that seeks to:
make significant changes to ad valorem taxation policy;
establish a forestry vanity license plate to fund working forest education;
discourage lumber bans in city ordinances; and
maintain reasonable regulation of stream buffers for forest landowners.
“Our Core Principles are non-negotiable because they ensure the long-term viability of forestry interests in Georgia,” GFA President and CEO Andres Villegas said. “We use them to guide every action and decision that we make throughout the year and during the legislative session.”
Recent analysis conducted by the Univer-
sity of Georgia confirmed that property 12 taxes on forestland in Georgia are far
higher than neighboring timber states,
and there is no uniformity in how these
land values are assessed across Georgia’s
159 different counties. Correcting these
issues is key to ensuring that Georgia’s
forests remain competitive and that landowners continue investing in for-
estland to keep Georgia the top forestry 2 state in the nation.
AVERAGE TIMBERLAND PROPERTY TAX/ACRE UNDER PREFERENTIAL PROGRAMS BY STATE
Right now, those who own forestland in Georgia are at a competitive disadvantage,
10 8 6 4
0
AL AR FL LA MS NC SC TX VA GA GA* $2.00 $1.25 $3.22 $2.20 $2.70 $1.60 $2.75 $3.15 $3.07 $6.65 $11.68
20 | GEORGIA FORESTRY
dollar per Acre
*NON-Preferential
GEORGIA FORESTRY COMMISSION