Third

Session, 48th General Assembly

Elizabeth II, 2018

BILL 29

AN ACT TO

AMEND THE FORESTRY ACT

Received and Read the First Time .................................................................................................

Second Reading .................................................................................................................................

Committee ..........................................................................................................................................

Third Reading .....................................................................................................................................

Royal Assent ......................................................................................................................................

HONOURABLE

GERRY BYRNE

Minister of Fisheries and Land Resources

Ordered

to be printed by the Honourable House of Assembly

EXPLANATORY NOTES

This Bill would amend the Forestry Act to prescribe formulas for

the calculation of the annual tax rate and the fair market value of productive

forest land.

A BILL

AN ACT TO AMEND THE FORESTRY ACT

Analysis

S.2 Amdt.

Definitions

2. Ss.63.1 to 63.3 Added

63.1 Annual tax rate

63.2 Fair market

value

63.3 Publication in Gazette

Be it enacted by the Lieutenant-Governor and

House of Assembly in Legislative Session convened, as follows:

RSNL1990 cF-23

as amended

Section 2 of the Forestry Act is amended by adding immediately after paragraph (

k) the following:

(k.1) "gross merchantable timber volume"

means the volume of the main stem of a merchantable tree excluding allowance

for a 15.0 centimetre stump and a top diameter of 8.0 centimetres;

(k.2) "merchantable tree" means a tree

having an outside bark diameter of 9.0 centimetres or greater at a point 1.3

metres above mean ground level;

2. The Act is amended by adding immediately after

section 63 the following:

Annual tax rate

63.1 For

the purposes of calculating the managed land tax, each year the minister shall

calculate and set the annual tax rate in accordance with the following formula:

T = (C fj

+ C ij - R fj )

N x L

where

= the annual tax rate for the current

year;

= 5;

C fj

= the

cost of fire protection for the province, excluding Labrador ,

during the 5 year period immediately before the taxation year;

C ij

= the cost of insect and disease

protection for the province, excluding Labrador ,

during the 5 year period immediately before the taxation year, except

operational spray costs;

R fj

= the forest-related revenues during the

5 year period immediately before the taxation year arising from

(

i) the Canadian Interagency Mutual Aid Resource

Sharing Agreement, and

(ii) the costs received under the Forest Fires Liability and Compensation

Regulations ; and

= the total land area in hectares of the province,

excluding Labrador and water bodies larger

than 2 hectares .

Fair market value

63.2 For

the purposes of calculating the unmanaged land tax, each year the minister

shall calculate and set the fair market value of productive forest in accordance

with the following formula:

FMV = GMTV

PFL

where

FMV

= the fair market value of productive

forest for the current year;

GMTV

= the average gross merchantable timber volume

of all merchantable trees;

= the prevailing royalty rate for

pulpwood obtained from areas not serviced by a government owned access road;

and

PFL

= the area of productive forest land of

the province, excluding Labrador .

Publication in

Gazette

63.3 Each

year the minister shall publish in

the Gazette the annual tax rate

referred to in

section 63.1 and the fair market value referred to in

section

63.2.

Queen's Printer