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Abstract
The 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act is one of the most expansive federal tax legislations of the US. Effects of recently passed tax bill and other proposals on non-corporate private forest landowners have not been evaluated or understood yet. Using the Faustmann approach, this study evaluated and compared net financial benefit of managing timberland under various tax scenarios to show the effects of the current law and other proposals on timber income from investment and business in the US South. Results from economic analysis showed minimal impacts of current law on investors and material participants. Current law decreased after-tax LEV for both types of landowners by less than 7.5%. Among the proposals, expensing reforestation costs had the least effect while 50% exclusion of capital gain had the greatest positive impact. Therefore, management of timberland becomes less beneficial for median income investors and material participants under the current law.