FOREST TAXATION IN THE UNITED STATES 163 
TREND IN TAX DELINQUENCY 
EFFECT OF THE DEPRESSION 
An increased amount of tax delinquency is to be expected in a 
period of depression, and there is abundant evidence that recent years 
have witnessed such an increase. The pronounced increase in delin- 
quency in forest and agricultural regions began about 1921 or 1922 
and thus followed closely the collapse in land values. Urban delin- 
quency in serious proportions has now accompanied the depression in 
business and industry which began in 1929. A study of 145 cities of 
over 50,000 population shows an average rate of delinquency, meas- 
ured by the portion of the current tax levy uncollected at the end of 
the fiscal year, of 12.9 p&rcent in 1930, increasing to 26.3 percent in 
1933 (62). Naturally these averages do not give an adequate idea 
of the situation in the cities which had to contend with extremes of 
tax delinquency. In some cases delinquent taxes at the end of the 
fiscal year ran as high as 30 and 40 percent. These cities have been 
affected by especially adverse economic situations, such as inactivity 
of the single dominant industry, failure of local banks, and collapse of 
a real estate boom. 
Delinquency which appears during a depression is less related to 
other factors and less symptomatic of more fundamental maladjust- 
ments than that which appears in more normal times. The studies 
of delinquency which are included in this report for the most part 
cover a period which ended before the beginning of the general de- 
pression in 1929. They are probably the more significant from 
the viewpoint of indicating inappropriate taxation or uneconomic 
land use. 
MICHIGAN 
Probably in few other States are there delinquency records covering 
so long a period as in Michigan. The records in the office of the 
auditor general show the trend in delinquency for the last 30 years, 
in terms of area and assessed value. The figures show a large amount 
of delinquency at the beginning of the century, a rather steady de- 
crease for the next 10 years, a fluctuating but slowly increasing amount 
for the next 10 years, and a sharp and steady increase since 1920, the 
amount by both measures having risen above the 1900 level by 1925. 
The following are the respective portions of the unplatted area and of 
total assessed value of all real estate returned delinquent in selected 
years (73, Repts. 1900, 1905, 1910, 1915, 1920, 1925, 1928) (74, Repts. 
1907-8, 1911-12, 1921-22, 1925-26, 1927-28): 
r Unplatted | Assessed Unplatted | Assessed 
Year area value Year reas value 
Percent Percent Percent Percent 
OOO Rss Saks he 20 QI el 20 ee ine SU ka AE eNO) at 15 
Osi SS eee 15 Git PG 25 ee See OP a eee oi 21 12 
ON Obtain ooo #4 Make Ln 12 AU LO QR pal Cyc gue we rend Few DRE ee 25 18 
OG ee et Rl ee Be 14 5 
Stated in absolute figures, the area delinquent in 1900 was 6,995,973 
acres and in 1928, 8,756,732 acres. The assessed value of all delin- 
quent real estate was $75,185,014 in1900 and $1,146,573,162 in 1928, 
a fourteenfold increase. 
