62 
THE A B C OF TAXATION 
land) in order to secure floor space worth 
112,000 a year? 
What Does the Business Man Think of It ? 
The following facts and figures are given for business 
men to consider, being careful to avoid hasty con 
clusions, and to remember that the more nearly the 
value of buildings approaches the value of the land 
the better it appears to be for business. 
Comparison by Counties 
Massachusetts has fourteen counties. In every 
one of thirteen of these counties the assessed value 
of the buildings exceeds and in most cases largely 
exceeds the assessed value of the land. In the one 
other county, Suffolk (Boston, Chelsea, Revere, and 
Winthrop), containing 49 per cent of the whole land 
value of the state, the buildings fall far below the land 
in value. 
The Small Towns 
Again, eighty-eight towns (out of Massachusetts’s 
354 cities and towns), having lowest valuations, show 
average assessments as follows: of buildings, $ 130,000; 
of land, $145,000. A single tax assessment based 
upon site value of uncultivated land and exempting 
not only buildings, but all other farm improve 
ments, would reduce this average land value for 
these eighty-eight towns, so far as they represent 
farm land foe assessment, from $145,000 to prob 
ably less than $75,000. The following figures show 
Winter Street in company with the three smallest 
of these towns: