New tax category for woodlots

Abill was introduced this week in the National Assembly giving municipalities the option of taxing woodlots that are developed differently from woodlots that are not.

Of the 134,000 individuals, families, small businesses and large corporations owning woodlots of more than 4 hectares in Quebec, 28,819 are currently recognized as forest producers by the Ministère des Forêts, de la Faune et des Parcs.

This recognition is granted to a forest owner of more than 4 hectares who holds a forest management plan written by a forest engineer, who requests it from a registry office of this ministry.

Registration will be necessary to benefit from a separate tax rate that could vary between 66% and 100% of the basic tax rate, depending on the decision of municipal elected officials.

"Over the decades, multi-stakeholder working groups have regularly considered how best to use property taxation to encourage forest owners to protect and enhance their woodlots, without ever reaching consensus. Today, the government is showing its character by resolving this impasse," commented Pierre-maurice Gagnon, President of the

Fédération des producteurs forestiers du Québec in a statement following the announcement. "in order to achieve an effective forest tax system, the work begun to simplify and modernize the property tax refund measure for forest producers will have to be finalized. This refund takes the form of a tax credit available to all forest producers who invest in forest management work on their properties," added Gagnon.