94 



MASS. EXPERIMENT STATION BUIJ.ETIN 235 



ment records in the various towns. The towns are distributed over five coun- 

 ties as follows: Berkshire County, Sheffield and Hancock; Franklin County, 

 Shelburne, Heath, Conway and Ashfield; Worcester Count}', Sterling; Middle- 

 sex County, Littleton and Boxborough; and Hampden County, Granville. 



Table 2. — Relation between Owners' Value and Assessed Value per Farm of 

 Farm Real Estate in Massachusetts. 



aOwner's value in each case is the owner's estimate of the value of his property, in 

 some instances corrected by consultation with the farm management agent collect- 

 ing the facts. 



Assessed values averaged slightly more than one-half of owners' values, but 

 the percentage varied with each farm, and with each town, the maximum dif- 

 ference between towns being over 20 per cent. The differences between towns 

 are shown graphically in Charts 1 and 2, in which each bar represents one 

 town. The ten farms in Town No. 8 were assessed at 41.9 per cent of owners' 

 value, but it is doubtful if this number was large enough to be a fair sample. 

 The differences between towns are well illustrated by Towns No. 1 and 7, both 

 of which are good farming towns, and in which the samples taken included a 

 majority of farms in each town. According to the table, farms in Town No. 1 

 were assessed at 19 per cent more of the owners' value than in Town No. 7, 

 which means that on farms of equal value, with equal tax rates, taxes in Town 

 No. 1 were 46 per cent higher than in Town No. 7. A farm worth $10,000 is 

 assessed for $4277 in Town No. 7; in Town No. 1, the valuation is 46 per cent 

 higher or $6247. This means that with the tax rate at $25.00, taxes are $156 

 in Town No. 1 compared with $107 in Town No. 7. The difference in taxes 

 was exaggerated in 1923 by a tax rate for Town No. 1 which was 18 per cent 

 higher than that of Town No. 7. The high percentage of assessed value com- 

 bined with the high tax rate meant that for this one year taxes in Town No. 1 

 were approximately 72 per cent higher than in Town No. 7. This situation 

 was a temporary one, however, as the tax rate in Town No. 1 has been falling 

 since 1923. 



The other towns of the table do not vary a great deal from the average, but 

 the variations are sufficient to make a noticeable ditTercnce in taxes. It is not 

 to be expected that all farmers pay equal taxes on similar property; this 

 would necessitate equal tax rates, and taxes and tax rates depend upon the 



