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MASS. EXPERIMENT STATION BULLETIN 235 



town expenditures. It is to be expected, however, that property of approxi- 

 mately similar character and value will be assessed at the same figure in every 

 town. The high percentage of assessed to owners' value in Town No. 1 is due 

 partly to the numbers of farms and village homes used for residences by city 

 workers, partly to the exaggerated market value of land in orchards, and 

 partly to the general revaluation of property brought about by heavy expendi- 

 tures for highways and schools. 



The principal effect of differences in the ratio of assessed to owners' value 

 as shown above is to cause towns with high assessed values to pay more than 

 their share of state and county taxes. If all property within a town were 

 assessed at a uniform percentage of fair value, the difference between towns 

 would not be important so far as town taxes were concerned. The local tax 

 rate per $1000 of assessed valuation depends largely upon the amount of 

 money voted at the town meeting. The amount is first voted and then levied 

 against available assessed property. The state and county taxes are appor- 

 tioned in a different way, but the amount per town depends upon the assessed 

 valuation. The following illustration will make this clear. 



Actual Value of Taxable Property 

 Ratio of Assessed to Actual Value, 



per cent 

 Total Assessed Valuation 

 Town Tax 



Tax Rate based on Town Tax 

 State tax at $2.00 per $1000 



Assessed Valuation 

 Town and State Tax 

 Tax rate based on State and Town Tax 

 Rate per $1000 on Actual Value 



In actual practice the State Tax Commissioner attempts to equalize state 

 taxes in such cases by equalizing the property valuations. As there is no 

 available information on the extent to which property is undervalued in any 

 given town, equalizations are onlj' approximate. 



The tax requirements of various towns are more uniform than assessment 

 practice. Therefore it is to be expected that where there is considerable dif- 

 ference between the ratio of assessed to owners' value, the towns assessed at 

 a low percentage of value will have a relatively high tax rate. The table 

 above shows this to be the case if we except Town No. 1, which had been 

 ■reassessed and Town No. 8, in which the number of farms was too small for 

 I fair sample. For the remaining towns the relation is as follows: 



Ratio of Assessed 

 to Owners' Value 

 Town Tax Rate (Per cent) 



6 $26.00 p.3 



7 25.00 4^.7 

 5 24.50 5S.5 

 4 23.50 53.7 



2 22.50 58.9 



3 21.30 56.7 



It is apparent that low tax rates are accompanied by a high ratio of assessed 

 to owners' value. Unusual appropriations in any given year throw the tax 



