It is with the utmost curiosity that I venture down a rocky and controversial road today. Having recently received a notice from the City of Concord, I learned my property tax will increase once again this year.
My thoughts were initially frustrating, and then I tried to think logically about property taxes. I certainly do not feel anger toward any one individual, just general frustration with the increased property tax bill. My logical thinking usually tends to just accept things the way they are and pay the increased property tax. We live with increased expenses today much like our ancestors did in the past.
I remember the first house my wife and I purchased in Concord and the feeling of accomplishment that accompanied the purchase. We renovated and worked very hard to make our old house into a home. When the property tax bill arrived in my mailbox that very first year, I accepted it and simply paid the bill. But the property tax bill, and the cost of living, was so much less.
We are at the age when we are giving some serious thoughts about retiring. But that tax bill visits me each year like a long lost relative that I have grown weary. Each year it arrives and each year I contemplate the reason why there is another increase.
My curiosity piqued and my thoughts wandered back a century or so to a time when most of our ancestors just didn’t have the money to pay property tax increases year after year. This brought me to the era of the Great Depression. My ancestors survived and so will you and I, but the property tax bill is a debate that will continue again and again each year. As it has been said time and again year after year, nothing is sure except death and taxes.
Our country suffered from 1929 until 1939 financially. People lost their homes and their farms; they lost their jobs and any hope for income. There wasn’t enough food and people knew the feeling of starvation. A very sad period of time that our great grandparents experienced, but people survived and the life they lived during the depression era taught them the value of money. Our ancestors improvised and soldiered on because they had little choice. President Franklin D. Roosevelt created the Work Projects Administration, known commonly as the WPA, in 1935 as part of the Second New Deal. The WPA provided jobs for people in need and allowed countless people to survive during the depression years. Many people could not pay their loans or their property taxes so they lost their homes to banks and towns that placed property tax liens.
It was not just Concord, but across the entire country during this period. In 1935, New Hampshire did in fact rely heavily on property tax income to managed their town budgets and pay for the schools that educated their children, even though we were severely financially suffering from the depression era.
Similar to today, in 1935 New Hampshire did not have a sales tax or income tax to help support the towns and cities. New Hampshire left the towns practically dependent on local property taxes to operate their towns. Prior to 1935 there were efforts by the state to help address local property tax needs and the New Hampshire Tax Commission was established in 1911. It was the hope of the state that the Tax Commission would standardize the practices of towns and cities, especially as it related to assessing and reporting. With continued insight and publicity, the property tax dilemma continued and was the source of much debate by most politicians. In 1935, the New Hampshire Supreme Court ruled that “Constitutional Tax Principals” were affirmed and the New Hampshire Legislature had the authority to exempt and classify property as they so deemed.
The property tax delinquencies ran rampant during the period of 1929 until 1939 and many years later too. A tax lien levied by the City of Concord or many other municipalities for nonpayment of property taxes was certainly a very common event.
Our New Hampshire politicians most often based their campaigns on promises to manage the excessive property taxes levied each and every year. It was reported in 1936 by Concord Mayor John W. Storrs that he desired to cut the city property tax by $8 for each home. Mayor Storrs further stated his analysis was indeed very factual and could be accomplished, but the citizens of Concord would have to be willing to forego activities where the city provided the funds. Mayor Storrs went a bit further than most politicians expecting to launch a campaign for reelection by providing an actual list of occurrence items that should be cut to allow for the $8 property tax reduction.
The mayor offered the following thoughts on eliminating the following city paid activities immediately: Snow removal would save Concord $20,000 while garbage and refuse pick up cancellation would save our ancestors $39,610 each year. The mayor further stated our ancestors could also save by eliminating milk inspections, park maintenance, comfort stations, playgrounds and street lighting. Mayor Storrs additionally suggested cutting funds appropriated for hospitals, family welfare, district nurses, recreation commission, band concerts, work relief projects, relief gardens, Armistice Day and Memorial Day. Mayor Storrs also recommended the reduction of all public officials including both police and firemen. It would seem that Mayor Storrs did not miss many areas to cut funding to provide some property tax relief.
After reading at length the suggestions for Concord budget cuts in 1936 I was certainly curious to see if John W. Storrs was elected again as the Mayor of Concord. He was indeed, Mayor Storrs served as the Mayor of Concord from 1934 until 1942. Apparently, his promises helped him win his bids for reelections with each quest regardless of the funding he proposed cutting. The message rings true to this very day, providing a manageable and realistic budget that will impact the property taxes in a logical and attainable way.
The Concord tax rate in 1935 was $36.43 and once again Mayor Storrs was elected by our ancestors.
As I prepare to write a check to pay my Concord property tax invoice, I will venture down to Green Street, enter the front doors at our Concord City Hall and hand my check to the clerk. It is a process I have completed many times and probably will continue to do the same. It has been the better part of a century since our ancestors discussed and debated property taxes here in Concord back in 1935. I would assume this is a discussion that will continue to be debated for the next century too.
As Thomas Paine once said, “What at first was plunder assumed the softer name of revenue.”