Effect of the Federal Estate Tax on Nonindustrial Private Forest Holdings

Data for this study were collected using a questionnaire mailed to randomly selected members of two forest owner organizations. Among the key findings is that 38% of forest estates owed federal estate tax, a rate many times higher than US estates in general. In 28% of the cases where estate tax was due, timber or land was sold because other assets were not adequate. In 29% of the cases where land was sold, it was converted to a more developed use. Questionnaires also were mailed to randomly selected individuals from a national database of rural landowners for comparison with forest owners. For most of the characteristics surveyed, there was no statistical difference between responses from the two groups.