Brickwedel

Two years ago, we held the 1963-64 assessment of timberlands in Del Norte County to be unconstitutionally discriminatory (Jones Lbr. Co. v. Del Norte County, 251 Cal.App.2d 645 [ 59 Cal.Rptr. 644 ]). Hearing was denied by our Supreme Court, and certiorari was denied ( 389 U.S. 1015 [ 19 L.Ed.2d 661 , 88 S.Ct. 591 ]). The assessor had appraised all old growth timber in the county at the same market price. In fixing assessed values, however, he had applied a sliding scale of discounts based solely on the quantity of timber owned by each taxpayer. The obvious result was to assess at different rates properties which had been appraised at identical values, and was clearly discriminatory.

On this petition for writ of mandate, we must determine whether the same practice is being followed in the 1969-70 assessments. We issued alternative writ.

Since our earlier decision, the State Board of Equalization has adopted a regulation governing valuation of timber (Cal. Admin. Code, tit. 18, rule 41). This rule recognizes a distinction between “immediate harvest value” and “market value.” The former is the price a willing and informed buyer would pay a like seller “for timber to be harvested in…