FARM TAXES AND ASSESSMENTS IN MASSACHUSETTS' 



By Hubert W. Yount 



INTRODUCTION. 



Taxes rank third in importance as an expense on Massachusetts farms, be- 

 ing exceeded only by the costs of feed and labor. The total tax bill on the 

 average farm amounts to from $150 to $200, and is a direct out-of-pocket cost. 

 It falls due on a certain date, and in practice is paid all at one time. Furth- 

 ermore, taxes are not like other costs, since there is apparently no immediate 

 return. Money spent for labor or feed sliows visible results, but the returns 

 from taxes are often intangible, and frequently are distributed over a period 

 of years. This is one reason why there are more complaints about taxes than 

 about other farm costs. It is difficult for the average citizen to see the dollars- 

 and-cents value of improved roads, good schools, police and fire protection, 

 and other government services, especially when he has enjoj'ed these benefits 

 for a long time. Much of tiie criticism of higii taxes in recent years has been 

 due to the failure of taxpayers to appreciate the increasing cost of govern- 

 ment service to which they have become accustomed. 



At the outset the problem of farm taxation in Massachusetts presents cer- 

 tain difficulties. The state is industrial, not agricultural; urban, not rural. 

 For this reason tax authorities have paid little attention to farm taxes or 

 farm assessments. 



The relative importance of agriculture is shown by tlie following census 

 figures. According to the United States Census of Wealth, Debt and Taxa- 

 tion, the total wealth of Massachusetts was estimated at $12,980,839,000 in 

 1922. According to the United States Census of Agriculture in 1925, the value 

 of farm property in the state was $293,405,000, divided as follows: 

 Land and Buildings $254,603,000 



Implements and Machinery . 17,044,000 



livestock 21,758,000 



Assuming the same amount of agricultural wealth in 1922 as in 1925, the 

 value of all farm property was 2.26 per cent of the total wealth of the state. 

 The value of taxable farm property was approximately the same percentage 

 of total taxable property. (1)^ 



The assessed valuation of towns of less than five thousand jjopulation is 

 only 9 per cent of the total state valuation, while the city valuation is 74 per 

 cent. Naturally, more attention has been given to assessments in cities and 

 large towns. The number of people who pay farm taxes is alco comparatively 

 small. The 1925 Census reported about 149,000 persons living on 33,000 farms 

 in Massachusetts out of a total population of 4,144,000. Therefore farm 

 population is only 3.6 per cent of the total population. 



' This is the first of two studies dealing with Farm Taxation, carried on under a co- 

 operative agreement tietween the Bureau of Agricultural Economics of the United 

 States Department of Agriculture and the ^Massachusetts Agricultural E.xperiment 

 Station. 



^ Figures in parenthesis refer to the Appendix. 



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