FARM TAXES IN MASSACHUSETTS 97 



rate for any given town out of line; but on the average, high tax rates in 

 rural towns are a fair indication of underassessment. 



Inequalities in Assessment between Farms. 



Inequalities in assessments between farms within the same town are of much 

 more importance than inequalities between towns. It has been shown that dif- 

 ferences between towns cause higher or lower state and county taxes, but have 

 little effect on the total tax paid by the individual farmer. Assessment dif- 

 ferences between farmers in the same town are reflected in high or low taxes. 

 The ratio of assessed to owners' values varies more between neighboring farms 

 than between towns. Thus in Town No. 7 where assessments were 43 per cent 

 of owners' values, individual farms were assessed at from 25 to 80 per cent 

 of their values. The range was still greater in Town No. 1, being from 37 to 

 more than 100 per cent, three-fourths of the farms being assessed between 40 

 and 80 per cent of owners' value. The other towns show similar variations. 

 Table 3 and Charts 3 and 4 show the number of farms assessed at varying 

 percentages of owners' value for Towns No. 1 and No. 7 as well as for 184 

 farms in six towns. It will be noted that while there are wide differences 

 within each town, assessments in Town No. 7 are uniformly lower than in 

 Town No. 1. The sunmiary for six towns includes farms from towns in which 

 assessed values are relatively high and low, and may be regarded as fairly 

 typical of the state. The range from less than 20 per cent of owners' value 

 to more than 100 per cent is greater than is likely to exist within any one 

 town, and it is probable that both the very high and very low assessments are 

 due to errors in the data. Omitting the extremes, over 85 per cent of the 

 farms are assessed at from 30 to 80 per cent of owners' value. Such a range 

 within a town means that for every $100 in taxes paid by the farmer assessed 

 at 30 per cent of fair value, the farmer assessed at 80 per cent would pay $266. 



Table 3. — Farms Grouped According to the Ratio of Assessed to Owners' 

 Valuations of Farm Real Estate 



The remedy for such inequalities is frequent revaluation and more careful 

 assessments based on definite knowledge of factors affecting property values. 

 In too many rural towns assessed values have not been changed for years; 

 in some cases not for generations. An instance was recently reported where 

 the assessment of a farm in southeastern Massachusetts had not been changed 



