Tax Comparisons:
1690-1695
| 1690 Mean Tax Ratio | 1690 Median Tax Ratio | ||||
| Pro-Parris | 14.76 | .93 | Pro-Parris | 14.00 | 1.00 |
| Anti-Parris | 15.82 | Anti-Parris | 14.00 | ||
| 1695 Mean Tax Ratio | 1695 Median Tax Ratio | ||||
| Pro-Parris | 10.88 | .72 | Pro-Parris | 8.00 | .71 |
| Anti-Parris | 15.14 | Anti-Parris | 11.25 | ||
As with the tax lists of 1681 and 1690, summary statistics for the assessments of 1690 and 1695 provide evidence about changes in the relative position of Salem Village's factions during this period.
Comparing mean and median ratios suggests the deteriorating position of the Parris faction in the years following the witchcraft outbreak. Where the ratios of pro-Parris to anti-Parris taxes had drawn closer during the 1680s, the trend was reversed between 1690 and 1695. By 1695, the ratio of the mean and median pro-Parris taxes were less than 75% of those of the anti-Parris group; prior to the witchcraft outbreak, they had been virtually the same. The results are not conclusive: neither tax list includes everyone who signed the two 1695 petitions. Moreover, the group of pro-Parris petitioners on the 1690 tax list is not the same as that on the 1695 list. Nevertheless, the results strongly suggest that three years after the Salem event, the witch hunters now lagged behind their adversaries.
Users can also compare the average and median taxes of the pro-Parris and anti-Parris factions to that of the entire Salem Village community.
To explore how individual members of the pro- and anti-Parris factions fared after 1690, click Next.