194 MISC. PUBLICATION 218, U. S. DEPT. OF AGRICULTURE 
On the other hand, the purchasers of tax-sales certificates are not 
everywhere considered public benefactors. In some States, where the 
law permits disinterested persons to purchase tax liens, it has been 
common for certain individuals, particularly lawyers and real estate 
men, to make a business of purchasing the ‘‘cream”’ of the certificates, 
leaving the county with those which are the least likely to be redeemed. 
For this reason some States—Oregon and Wisconsin, for example— 
have passed laws permitting a county to dispense with the tax sale 
and take all of the certificates itself. 
Where there is a large and increasing deficiency in current collections 
and uncertainty as to whether the delinquent taxes will ever be paid, 
the Government is placed in a very difficult position. It cannot gage 
its expenditures by current collections, for the year’s commitments are 
made before collections begin. If it limits its expenditures on the 
basis of the previous year’s collections, it may seriously and unneces- 
sarily impair its established services. On the other hand, if the 
Government permits expenditures to exceed collections, it aggravates 
its difficulties in subsequent years. 
In some of the northeastern counties of Minnesota in 1926 there 
were deficits in collections ranging from 15 to 45 percent. Even 
though the trend in delinquency is upward, and the officials recognize 
the danger of spending in excess of the revenue, it may be impossible 
to scale down expenditures immediately in such proportions. The 
fact is the county authorities in this region usually levy a greater 
tax than is required by the expenditures proposed in their budget, 
with the expectation that some part will not be collected but that the 
net collections will cover the expenditures. The result is, of course, 
that the burden of supporting schools, roads, and other governmental 
functions is made heavier for those who pay taxes than if conditions 
permitted the collection in full of a levy equal to the actual budget. 
A similar report comes from Wisconsin. One of the bulletins of the 
agricultural experiment station previously referred to (70, pp. 23-24) 
contains this statement: 
Tax delinquency has already caused some of the northern counties considerable 
difficulty in balancing their budgets. One procedure that is being adopted is to 
make the tax levy much larger than is actually needed in order to insure an 
adequate cash collection. This practice is causing a heavier tax burden to pile 
up on land not delinquent. There is an instance of a large tract of land bought 
recently for $1 per acre on which the annual tax is as much as 25 cents per acre. 
How long will the owner pay this tax? Will the county have to raise the tax rate 
even higher when such land becomes delinquent? Such questions are confronting 
eee counties in which the bulk of the revenue is derived from unplatted cut-over 
ands. 
* * * Some counties are beginning to cut expenditures in order to adjust 
themselves to the situation. The effect of tax delinquency upon the financial 
affairs of smaller governmental units (towns and school districts) in many 
instances presents a more serious problem. 
Communities faced with a shrinking tax base must reduce expendi- 
tures, consolidate into larger units, be subsidized by the State, or fall 
into ultimate bankruptcy. Frequently minimum standards of Gov- 
ernment already prevail, or the community has debt commitments 
which cannot be avoided, and no appreciable reduction in expendi- 
tures is possible. Decadent communities have generally been able ~ 
to command more and more State aid, particularly for schools, but it 
is questionable how far the State should go in perpetuating a com- 
munity which lacks a sound economic basis. Community disinte- 
