58 STATION BULLETIN 346 



a number of years the state tax commission has employed the serv- 

 ices of a field agent who works among tax collectors in the capacity 

 of a field man. He has eliminated many of the irregular and illegal 

 procedures formerly evident in the collection of taxes. An added 

 result is the fact that tax deeds are now more generally accepted as 

 the equivalent of a warranteed deed. 



Since 1931. the state legislature at each biennial session tempo- 

 rarily extended the lien on real estate from July 1 to October 1, and 

 in 1939 the legislature made October 1 the permanent lien date. The 

 purpose has been to make it easier for the burdened taxpayer. Octo- 

 ber 1 is later than the last possible date, September 14, when taxes 

 become due for the current year. 



It is the tax collector (not the town meeting) who usually de- 

 termines the date of the sale. Some collectors have consistently held 

 their tax sale as soon as possible after the last day when taxes are due 

 without penalty or during late January in order to "clean up their 

 books" and show no uncollected taxes at the end of the fiscal year, 

 January 31. This group believes there is no gain either to the town 

 or to the delinquent taxpayer from a delayed sale. On the other hand, 

 many collectors have felt that the sale should be held as late as the 

 law permits in order to make it easier for the taxpayer, and, according- 

 ly, held their respective tax sales in late June until the legislature ex- 

 tended the lien date to October 1. Conformably with their theory, a 

 large proportion of this group of collectors deferred the tax sale to 

 late September, at which time tax sales are now being scheduled in 

 nearly two-thirds of all rural towns. 



Rased on the tax records of the county registers of deeds, de- 

 linquency is a lesser problem among those towns in which the tax sale 

 is held before the end of the fiscal year, January 31. In this group of 

 towns the percent of taxes uncollected is much less at this date than 

 in the case of towns in which the sale is delayed. In other words, 

 the tax sale is an efifective weapon against chronic delinquency. Fur- 

 thermore, these variations in the percent of taxes uncollected on Jan- 

 uary 31 are apparently not attributable to differences in tax rates, or 

 relative tax burdens, inasmuch as the average tax rate (assumed to 

 represent the relative tax burdens) is actually higher among those 

 towns in which the tax sale is held at an early date, that is, before 

 January 31. This group of towns shows a much smaller percentage 

 of uncollected taxes as previously stated. 



For a supporting account of the preceding statement and for 

 supplementary data concerning tax delinquency consult Appendix 7. 



From 1929 through 1932, in 92 percent of all the towns in the 

 state, only 14 percent of all the tax liens were sold to private buyers 

 at collectors' tax sales.^^ j,^ 1933 ^j,^|^. ^-^^^^^ percent of the liens of 89 

 rural towns were purchased bv private buyers, and these transactions 

 were limited to 39 towns. Eighty-eight private buyers bought the 

 tax liens on 180 separate properties owned bv 153 delinquents. The 

 total amount paid by these buvers totaled $7,145, or 8.7 percent of all 



*" New Hampshire Experiment Station Bulletin 290. 



