10 University of New Hampshire [Bulletin 290 



Delinquency in Merrimack County represents all properties on which taxes 

 were not paid by December 1 of the year of levy. This is the only county 

 which reported reliable data for all towns for the year 1933. It is also the 

 only county which showed a decline in delinquency in 1931 over 1930. The 

 amount of delinquency increased over $6,000 per year until 1930, and over 

 $5,000 per year from 1931 to 1933. By 1933 the amount of delinquent taxes 

 had increased 43 per cent over 1928, the acreage 50 per cent and the number 

 of delinquent properties 65 per cent. These figures for 1933 and the com- 

 pleted data for many scattered towns would indicate an increase in dehn- 

 quency over 1932 for the State as a whole. 



The increase in delinquency in Sullivan County as measured by all prop- 

 erties on which penalties were charged was similar to that in Merrimack 

 County for the five-year period from 1928 to 1932. The amount of delin- 

 quent taxes and the acreage increased 34 per cent and the number of delin- 

 quent properties increased 42 per cent during this period. 



Table 3. Total tax delinquency of rural real estate, Merrimack* and 

 Sullivan Counties by year of levy. 



Properties involved 



^ A 



Year of Assessed Amount of 



levy Number Acres** valuation** delinquent taxes 



Merrimack County as of December 1 



1928 814 75,057 1,366,105 42,597 



1929 853 75,686 1,459,788 48,655 



1930 922 80,432 1,724,672 54,837 



1931 859 80,841 1,652,255 50,690 



1932 1,112 97,048 2,064,597 55,998 



1933 1,346 112,798 2,293,764 60,713 



Sullivan County as of date from which penalty is charged 



1928 431 44,743 889,825 26,998 



1929 401 44,635 917,935 25,089 



1930 518 52,127 1,021,005 30,863 



1931. 613 63,653 1,159,715 32,684 



1932 613 60,048 1,155,573 36,289 



By means of index numbers, Table 4 shows the trend in tax delinquency 

 for each county from 1928 to 1932. (See also Appendix A.) In 1929 the 

 four counties, Grafton, Rockingham, Strafford and Sullivan, and in 1930 

 Strafford County, showed a decline in tax delinquency below 1928. Car- 

 roll County is the only one in which delinquency had more than doubled by 

 1930. In 1931 delinquency in five counties had more than doubled, includ- 

 ing Carroll, where delinquency was nearly five times as great as in 1928, and 

 Hillsboro over three times. In only three counties, Carroll, Cheshire and 

 Hillsboro, had delinquency more than doubled by 1932. The delinquency 

 in 1932 declined below that of 1931 in seven of the ten counties. 



* All towns except Concord and Franklin. 



** Acreage and assessed valuation are for identical properties but represent 98 per cent of the 

 total properties in each case. 



