In rural New Hampshire there is a definite relationship between 

 the proportion of taxable wealth in farms and the total percent of prop- 

 erty resident (Table 18) . This relationship is more apparent among 

 districts having a population under 1,000. Regardless of density of popu- 

 lation, however, districts with a small percent of taxable property in 

 farms have a high equalized valuation and high expenditures per pupil. 

 The school tax rate per $1,000 of equalized valuation is much lower for 

 districts having a population under 1,000 and in which the assessed val- 

 uation of farms is less than ten percent of the total valuation. For other 

 groups of districts, their variation is most significant regardless of pop- 

 ulation. 



Table 18. Relation of Proportion of Assessed Valuation in Farms 

 to School Tax Rates and Expenditures, According to Population. 



Since farms comprise a rather limited proportion of the total tax- 

 able wealth, it is of greater significance to examine the relation between 

 school support and the total proportion of taxable wealth owned ])y per- 

 manent residents (Table 19) . Sparsely populated districts under 1,000 

 have an extremely high equalized valuation per pupil in those cases 

 where resident valuation is less than forty percent of the total. These 

 districts expend more per pupil while at the same time they enjoy a 

 much lower tax rate than districts having a high proportion of taxable 

 property owned by permanent residents. This relationship is not signi- 

 ficant among districts having a population in excess of 1,000. However, 

 regardless of population, there is evidence here of ability to pay. In gen- 



25 



