An individual business taxpayer owns land on which he grows trees for logging. The land has been held more than 10 years and the trees growing on the land were planted eight years ago. Normally, the timber would be inventory for this taxpayer, but the tax law allows the taxpayer to elect to treat cutting the timber as the disposition of a § 1231 asset. What is the tax treatment for cutting the timber?
1) The timber is treated as inventory for the taxpayer
2) The timber is treated as a § 1231 asset for the taxpayer
3) The timber is treated as a capital asset for the taxpayer
4) The timber is treated as ordinary income for the taxpayer