LOCAL GOVERNMENT AND TAXATION 143 



"Assessed valuation," "town valuation," "town inventory," and 

 "taxable wealth" are synonymous terms and refer to the total assessed 

 value of all real and personal property subject to the local property 

 tax and as tabulated in the annual reports of the state tax commission. 



The Relation of Population to Town Expenses, Town Property 



Taxes, and Other Factors 



Population per Town 



Twenty-eight of the 100 rural towns have a population of less 

 than 400, and 18 have a population of 1,000 or more (Table 2). There 

 is no evidence that towns having a larger than average population 

 also cover a larger than average area. Therefore, more population 

 usually indicates a denser population. Towns having a population 

 of less tlian 400 have only 7 .7 persons per square mile, compared with 

 47.2 for towns having a population of 1,000 or more. To\\'ns of small 

 population, that is, the sparsely populated towns, had only about 

 half as many people in 1940 as they had in 1880, whereas those towns 

 which had a population of 1,000 and over in 1940 had 10.8 percent 

 more people than in 1880. However, each group of towns, collective- 

 ly, gained in population during the decade from 1930 to 1940. It was 

 immediately after the 1930 census and during the depression of the 

 early thirties that the city-to-farm migration exceeded the farm-to- 

 city movement. The significance of this excess movement to farms 

 was relatively greater in rural towns which, through their abandoned 

 homes and farms, offered a haven to the jobless from industrial cen- 

 ters. By way of contrast, note the population changes from 1920 to 

 1930 as indicated in Table 2, Appendix 9. 



Table 2. The Relation of Population per Town to Town Expenses, Town 

 Property Taxes, and Other F.\ctors 



,,,,„ , ,. Nnm Snnarp Population in 1940 Assessed 



1940 population Num.bquare__^ valuation 



P^^ town ber miles Per p.^cent Percent "^ ^— 



•o A ° P^ square r iqqa „r loin "er Per 



Range Averagetowns town mile o^ ^§80 of 1930 ^^^^.^^ ^^pj^^ , 



Less than 400 268 28 34.6 1 :i 51.6 106.1 $360,647 $1,343 



400 to 699 534 31 31.4 17.0 69.2 106.5 570,059 1.068 



700 to 999 836 U 42.7 19.6 67.3 110.2 815,738 976 



1,000 and over 1,566 18 33.2 47.2 110.8 107.2 1,483,713 948 



All towns 715 100 35^2 203 TLl 1077 $ 732,388 $1,025 



Town property tax 



1940 nonulation Town expenses V^xz^r^V 



IV4U population -r, n n t> Percent c 4. j. i 



per town Per Per Per Per ^^ of total 



town capita town capita , ,- „ property 



' ^ valuation , 



tax 



Less than 400 $7,392 $27.53 $5,370 $20.00 1.49 47.7 



400 to 699 10,585 19.84 6,804 12.75 1.19 38.2 



700 to 999 17,034 20.38 10,843 12.97 1.33 39.6 



1,000 and over 30,656 19.58 18,870 12.05 1.27 37.8 



All towns $14,787 $20.69 $ 9,503 $13.30 1.30 39.7 



