6 University of New Hampshire [Bulletin 290 



Lost Tax Books. During the period from 1928 to 1933 some towns had 

 several different tax collectors. In other towns the collector had held office 

 for many years, in one instance 50 years. Many collectors considered the tax 

 books their own personal property and kept them as such after their term of 

 office had expired. This fact accounts for a few lost tax books and a lack of 

 completed data for this study, more particularly during the earher years. In 

 some cases it also necessitated calling on many collectors in order to get com- 

 plete records for the six years. More frequently, however, the tax books 

 were carefully preserved in the vault of the town hall, w-here they were easily 

 accessible. As delinquency was largely measured by the tax advertisements 

 tabulated from the reports found in the Register of Deeds' office, lost tax 

 books affected more the supplementary data such as assessed values and 

 penalties rather than the actual extent of delinquency. 



Uniformity mid Completeness of Tax Books. One county supervisor 

 reported that all town records were uniformly kept throughout the county. 

 In other counties reports indicate varying completeness and accuracy among 

 tax collectors regarding the system of recording collections. It is encourag- 

 ing to find that most of the poorer records were in the earlier years and that 

 during the past few years the systems have been improved and are much 

 more uniform — a result of better instructions. In some instances the names 

 of property owners were not listed alphabetically, thus requiring a consider- 

 able amount of time in finding the names of delinquent tax payers. For 

 collection purposes the non-resident and resident taxpayers are usually 

 grouped separately in the tax collector's warrant book. The local tax and 

 inventory books contain numerous separate classifications of property, but 

 in no instance did they contain a classified property list from which could 

 readily be deducted the total amount of taxes assessed against rural real 

 estate and thereby show the relative importance of rural delinquency to the 

 respective towns. In the absence of such a classification, it is difficult to 

 analyze delinquency wath respect to the type of lands and class of people 

 most affected. Many tax books had inadequate information concerning pen- 

 alties. Some town inventories contained no record of acreage on certain 

 properties. Acreage was reported for only 93 per cent of the delinquent 

 properties and is thereby not strictly comparable to the number of properties 

 or to the total amount of delinquent taxes. 



Irregularities in Advertising and Sale. Irregularities were more com- 

 mon with respect to the advertising and sale of real estate in satisfaction of 

 delinquent taxes. Some town officials are opposed to the town becoming a 

 purchaser of tax liens on the grounds that they don't want the property but 

 the unpaid taxes. However, the majority of towni officials favor such a 

 procedure. One tax collector who had held office for many years never ad- 

 vertised or sold a piece of property before 1932. Many other towns have 

 allowed delinquencies to run from year to year after advertising without 

 sale, and still others continue to sell property over and over even though it 

 is not redeemed. A few towns were reported as having gone to the other 

 extreme of buying in taxes before January 31 in order to show on their year- 

 ly financial statements to the Tax Commission a minimum of uncollected 

 taxes. In one instance, after delinquent taxes are posted, one must pay 

 them to the treasurer, a procedure contrary to statutory law, which provides 

 that all redemption be made through the tax collector. Occasionally a town 



