FOREST TAXATION IN THE UNITED STATES 165 
TaBLE 51.—Percentage of tax levies and special assessments reported delinquent, 
1918-80; selected counties, Minnesota 1 
County 1918 | 1921 | 1924 | 1927) 1930 County 1918 | 1921 | 1924 | 1927} 1930 
Pet. | Pct.| Pct. | Pct.| Pct. Pct. | Pct. | Pct. | Pct. | Pct. 
ACI eters 2 eee Re, Sd WONG 2E NPA GE BOS) |) GGL BI) ILA Ee ee 10.3 {16.8 {21.2 | 22.9 
Beltrami See eae 25.3 |26.5 184.4 /41.7 | 53.1 || Lake of the Woods___-_- (2) (2) 145.8 |56.0 | 68.5 
Carltonexis foe rs 4.8 | 6.9 |12.5 |10.6 | 12.2 || Mille Lacs___--_--__-.__ 4.4} 8.0 |13.9 |11.5 | 18.3 
CORSE CARP 7 Faerie PAO PAG) RSH Co) )) CRE al denbave\sin Sew as Be 6.8 |12. 2 |16.2 |23.1 | 30.8 
Clearwater____-___-_--- PO PANSY NEO) PARES STS UI Shins TU robo cs Ce 3.61] 4.4]3.6] 4.5 
OO Ree RS 26.5 |16.1 |19.4 {24.4 | 38.6 || Total, 16 counties______|____- 6.9 | 9.4 | 9.6 | 23.1 
Crow Wing. 2222222. 3 11.2 |10.6 11.9 11.2 ! 12.9 || Total, 15 counties, ex- 
isto ooeyACl_ sh 13.0 |15.0 |21.6 |27.2 | 39.3 cluding St. Louis______|____- 13.9 |19.6 |22.0 | 29.2 
tascaesaee ns ete man.) 6.0 | 3.5 | 6.2 | 7.8 | 10.0 || State, excluding 16 
Kanabecia2 2.2 ean 4,2 | 9.4 16.3 |11.3 | 19.7 COUPLES Hee ae reenter eun |RegaTE AF Ay | ee 8.5 
Koochiching_._-______-_ aT IBGE ESS) eal | Cl OI) Supe at Qa Hee 9.5 
1 Sources of data: Columns 2-5 computed from records in the county auditors’ offices of the several coun- 
ties. Column 6 from Cunningham and Frank (66, table 3). Original data from the Minnesota State Tax 
Commission. 
2 Part of Beltrami County. 
Current, or short-term, delinquency obviously creates a less serious 
problem than long-term delinquency. In the case of the cut-over 
counties of Minnesota, however, the large volume of current delin- 
quency has proved the prelude to a large volume of long-term or 
absolute delinquency. In 15 northeastern counties, 1,619,028 
acres, or 13.9 percent of the area of taxable unplatted land, had been 
delinquent for 3 years or more at the time of the study.” The date 
of the observation differed in different counties and extended from 
September 15, 1926, to August 15, 1928. In four counties—Aitkin, 
Beltrami, Koochiching, and Lake of the Woods—more than 20 
percent of the area had been delinquent for 3 years or more, the ratio 
in Beltrami County being 26.5 percent. In selected townships in 
four counties—Beltrami, Hubbard, Lake, and St. Louis—the delin- 
quent areas in 1926 ranged from 1.6 to 49.7 percent of the respective 
total areas. There was almost seven times as much long-term 
delinquency as in 1913.% A later study (66, p. 118, table 2) indicates 
that by January 1931, the long-term delinquency in the same 15 
counties as measured by the area delinquent for taxes levied in 1926 
and before had risen to 3,569,520 acres. 
WISCONSIN 
A study of tax delinquency in 17 counties of northern Wisconsin, 
made by the Wisconsin Agricultural Experiment Station (70), dis- 
closed a rapid increase in delinquency in the region studied, the 
problem having developed almost entirely since 1920. The investi- 
gation revealed that tax certificates on 1,082,232 acres were sold at 
the tax sale in 1921 and that at subsequent s sales the delinquent area 
had increased steadily, until in 1927 certificates were sold against 
2,593,163 acres, or nearly a quarter of the entire land area of these 
17 counties. Only 73 percent of the land against which liens were 
sold in 1921 and only 57 percent of that against which liens were sold 
in the 4 years, 1921-24, inclusive, had been redeemed at the time of 
the investigation in 1927. This indicates that the delinquency which 
prevails in these counties is of the long-term character. Indeed 
§4 St. Louis County, containing the city of Duluth, being excluded in this case. 
55 Compiled and computed from records in the county auditors’ offices of the several counties. 
56 Computed from town assessment rolls, 1926. 
