90 



MASS. EXPERIMENT STATION BULLETIN 235 



taken as the best estimate available of total taxes paid l)y Massachusetts 

 farmers. The average taxes are therefore about $156 per farm for 32,000 

 farms (5). 



This average is low, due to the large number of small farms or farms of 

 low value. In a questionnaire sent out to assessors by the Bureau of Agricul- 

 tural Economics of the United States Department of Agriculture in 1926, it 

 was found that taxes on 243 farms distributed through 53 towns averaged 

 $340 per farm in 1925. The following table shows actual taxes per farm ex- 

 clusive of automobile registration fees. Since the acreage of the farms re- 

 ported is from 30 to 50 per cent above the county averages, the tax per farm 

 is typical only of the larger farms. 



Table 1. — Taxes on Identical Massaciiiisetts Farms, 1924 and 192-5.'/ 



oData collected by Bureau of Agricultural Kcononiics, United States Department of 

 Agriculture, from local town assessors. 



If Middlesex County is omitted from the average, due to the large number of 

 greenhouses and market garden farms reported, the average tax per farm 

 on the remaining 207 farms was $222. 



ASSESSED VALUATIONS. 



Since property taxes are levied upon the value of property owned, the de- 

 termination of such value is the basic problem in our system of taxation. The 

 property taxes levied on any individual property change for only two re;isons. 



1. A change in the amount of taxes raised by the city or town ; 



2. A change in the assessed valuation of the property. 



Most Massachusetts farmers live in towns where public expenditures are 

 voted in open town meeting. Therefore each voter has a voice in determin- 

 ing the amount spent by his community. He has less to do with determining 

 the assessed value of his property, since he is usually not consulted in the 

 matter. The local board of assessors places a valuation on property, and 



