The amount of unpaid taxes at the end of any given year is printed in the Treasurer’s Report in the Town Warrant. This is nothing new.

Tax bills are typically due at the beginning of December. The amount of unpaid taxes at the end of December represents property owners who are a few weeks late paying their taxes.

The total number of taxpayers who were late paying their property tax bill as of December 31, 2009 was 108. Since the advent of computerized tax accounting in Acworth beginning in 2003 only one other year had fewer delinquent taxpayers at the end of the year. In 2005 there were 101 taxpayers who were late paying their bill before the first of the year.

A tally of other years shows:
December 31, 2003 – 166 taxpayers overdue, total: $207,808.94
December 31, 2004 – 117 taxpayers overdue, total: $172,564.20
December 31, 2005 – 101 taxpayers overdue, total: $166,851.78
December 31, 2006 – 463 taxpayers overdue, total: $646,784.14
December 31, 2007 – 141 taxpayers overdue, total: $238,683.92
December 31, 2008 – 120 taxpayers overdue, total: $246,450.65
December 31, 2009 – 108 taxpayers overdue, total: $292,328.56

The unpaid taxes on December 31, 2006 illustrate how arbitrary the end-of-year report can be in the Town Warrant. That year tax payments were due in early January 2007; bills went out late in 2006 due to the mandatory statewide revaluation.

To get an accurate assessment of unpaid taxes in town one should review data of those who are chronically delinquent in their tax payments rather than the end-of-year total as reported in the Town Warrant.

In 2009 – 23 taxpayers were one-year late paying their taxes. Of those 23, 17 were three-years delinquent in their tax payments.
In 2008 – 26 taxpayers were one-year late paying their taxes. Of those 26, 12 were three-years delinquent in their tax payments.
In 2007 – 32 taxpayers were one-year late paying their taxes. Of those 32, 8 were three-years delinquent in their tax payments.
In 2006 – 17 taxpayers were one-year late paying their taxes. Of those 17, 7 were three-years delinquent in their tax payments.
In 2005 – 16 taxpayers were one-year late paying their taxes. Of those 16, 7 were three-years delinquent in their tax payments.
In 2004 – 15 taxpayers were one-year late paying their taxes. Of those 15, 5 were three-years delinquent in their tax payments.

After the mandatory state revaluation in 2006 slightly more taxpayers in town have been delinquent in paying taxes. Yet this number is nominal when compared with the total number of taxpayers in Acworth.

If you want to get to the root of the tax problem in NH you should contact your State Representatives, Jim McClammer and Cynthia Sweeney, and State Senator Bob Odell to demand an equitable taxation overhaul that doesn’t place undue burden on property owners.