March, 1936] Rural Real Estate Tax Delinquency in N. H, 9 



for more than one year of levy but only for one year at a time. In other 

 words, most of the delinquency was paid before the following levy became 

 delinquent. This means that much of the annual delinquency is not new but 

 rather is repeated year after year, and thus mostly of short duration. The 

 annual increase is a better measure of new delinquency. 



Extent of Delinquency and Trends 



The total value of rural real estate tax delinquency in all counties except 

 Merrimack and Sullivan increased from $81,596 in 1928 to $176,483 in 

 1931, the peak year, mounting at the rate of nearly $32,000 per year (Table 

 2). This was an increase of 116 per cent in the amount of delinquent taxes, 

 92 per cent in the number of properties and 120 per cent in acreage. The 

 greatest increase for any one year was for the 1931 levy when the number 

 of delinquent properties increased 46 per cent over the previous year, the 

 acreage 68 per cent, and the amount of delinquent taxes 61 per cent. The 



1931 increase accounts for approximately two-thirds of all the increase from 

 1928 to 1932. The decline for 1932 was not so pronounced in the number 

 of delinquent properties or acreage as in the amount of delinquent taxes, 

 the percentage declines being 2.6, 5.6, and 16.0 respectively. The delinquency 

 per acre for 1932 declined from 77 cents to 69 cents and the delinquency per 

 property from $70 to $60, while the assessed value per acre actually in- 

 creased from $21.56 to $22.47, and per property from $1,942 to $1,963. 

 The percentage distribution of various classes of land was approximately 

 the same for both years. All this indicates that the lighter delinquency in 



1932 cannot be attributed to a decline in values or to a shift from poorer to 

 better lands. More likely it is due to a decline in the average tax rate, which 

 for 1931 and 1932 was respectively $2.90 and $2.77 per $100 valuation. 



If these 177 towns are considered as representative of the State as a 

 whole, the total rural real estate advertised for taxes in 1932 would amount 

 to approximately 260,000 acres of land and involve nearly $180,000 of tax 

 money. 



Table 2. Total tax delinquency of advertised rural real estate, eight 

 counties* by year of levy, 1928 - 1932. 



Properties involved 

 A , , 



Year of Assessed** Amount of 



levy Number Acres** valuation delinquent taxes 



(dollars) (dollars) 



1928 1,324 103,922 2,285,294 81,596 



1929 1,524 125,725 2,812,248 92,782 



1930 1,743 135,881 3,044,416 109,688 



1931 2,538 228,643 4,929,791 176,483 



1932 2,471 215,945 4,851,689 148,287 



* Includes 177 towns which comprise 92 per cent of the towns in all counties except Merrimack 

 and Sullivan, and 75 per cent of all the towns in the State. 



** Acreage and assessed valuation are for identical properties but represent only 90 per cent of 

 the total properties. 



