FARM TAXES IN MASSACHUSETTS 



103 



Some towns assess poultry as low as 50 cents per fowl, but $1.00 is t-he 

 most common figure. Table 6 shows differences in assessed value of from 50 

 cents to $'2.00 per fowl. 



Assessment Differences According to Type 

 of Farming. 



The fact of inequalities in farm assessments between towns and between 

 farms in the same town has ijeen demonstrated. It remains to be seen whether 

 these inequalities apply to all farms alike or whetlier certain types of farm 

 are discriminated against more than others. 



Since livestock is assessed at a higher percentage of its value than real 

 estate, it might be supposed that dairy farmers as a class pay relatively 

 higher taxes than fruit growers, market gardeners, or poultrymen. So far as 

 the average dairy farm is concerned, this is not true. The livestock on such 

 farms does not form a sufficiently large part of the total taxable investment 

 to make an apjireciable difference in the average. Out of a total assessed value 

 of $5,000, livestock represents less than $1,000 on the average dairy farm. The 

 proportion of taxable livestock to the total taxable investment in six Mass- 

 achusetts towns is shown in the following table. 



Table 8. — Taxable Real Estate and Livestock per Farm, 1923 



Town 



3 



4 



5 



7 



Average 



In order to determine assessment differences between fruit and dairy farms, 

 forty fruit farms with more than 500 bearing trees were selected and com- 



pared with thirty-two dairy farms 

 follows: 



in the same area. The results are as 



40 Fruit Farms 

 32 Dairy Farms 



Owners' Value 

 of Real Estate 



$475,200 

 248,250 



Assessed Value 

 of Real Estate 



$281,130 

 147,565 



Ratio of Assessed 



to Oztmers' lvalue 



(Per cent) 



59.16 



59.44 



It is apparent that there is no difference in the ratio of assessed to owners' 

 values of real estate between the two tj'jjes of farms. However, values of 

 fruit farms were inflated more than values of dairy farms. The productive 

 value of land used for orchards has been overestimated, and it seems likely 

 that while the owners' values used above were typical of current values in 

 1923, it was also true that there was an orchard boom at the time. Therefore 

 it seems wise to discount the orchard values to some extent indicating the 

 possibility that orchards were assessed slightly higher than dairy farms. 



