Delaware Taxation

Online Resources

 * 1726-1850 Tax lists of Kent County, Delaware
 * 1862-1866 Internal revenue assessment lists for Delaware, 1862-1866. Images only.
 * 1862-1874 Internal Revenue Assessmentf 1862-1874 at FamilySearch.org. Images only
 * 1862-1918 U.S. IRS Tax Assessment Lists, 1862-1918 for Delaware at Ancestry.com($)

Why Use Tax Records
By studying several consecutive years of tax records you may determine when a young men came of age, when individuals moved in and out of a home, or when they died leaving heirs. Authorities determined wealth (real estate, or income) to be taxed. Taxes can be for polls, real and personal estate, or schools.

Tax record content varies and may include the name and residence of the taxpayer, description of the real estate, name of original purchaser, description of personal property, number of males over 21, number of school children, slaves, and farm animals. Tax records usually are arranged by date and locality and are not normally indexed. Tax records can be used in place of missing land and census records to locate a person’s residence.

County Level
Tax assessments in what is now Delaware were first taken in 1693. Family History Library film 441413 has the lists for that year for Kent, New Castle, and Sussex Counties; also a list for 1696 for New Castle County. Tax lists were taken sporadically until 1726, then annually thereafter. Lists for the following years are found in the Family History Catalog:

Kent County
 * 1726-1850

New Castle County
 * 1738-1852

Sussex County
 * 1767-1850

State Level

 * 1862-1866 Internal Revenue Assessmentf lists for Delaware Internal revenue assessment lists were created into divisions called Districts, each county is put into a district. County names are arranged alphabetically within the division and then within months. The following is a list of counties placed in which district. (knowing the district and county your ancestor lived in will make searching this years taxes list a little faster) (once on page scroll down to district desired and click on camera to open)

U.S. Internal Revenue Assessment Lists. Three types of Reports: A=Annual; M=Monthly; S=Special Years and Reports may be different.

Delaware: all counties are listed as one District so they just listed as rolls under dates and Reports:

Roll 1: A - 1862;  M - Sept 1862-Apr 1863 Roll 2: A - 1863;  M - May-Dec 1863 Roll 3: A,S -1864; S - July 1864; Jan 1865 Roll 4: M - 1864 Roll 5: A - 1865;  M - Jan-June 1865;  S - Jan- July 1865 Roll 6: M,S - July-Dec 1865 Roll 7: M,S - Jan-Apr 1866;  A,S - 1866 Roll 8: M,S - May-Dec 1866

The original lists from the 1700s to about 1915 are preserved at the Delaware Public Archives.

Delaware Public Archives 121 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. North Dover, DE 19901 (302) 744-5000 Web page: Delaware Archives

Published Lists and Indexes
The following published lists and indexes may be helpful in locating early residents of Delaware:


 * 1665-1697 - , Ronald Vern Jackson and Gary Ronald Teeples. Bountiful, Utah: Accelerated Indexing Systems, 1977.
 * 1681- 1713 - , Bruce A. Bendler. Westminster, Maryland: Family Line Publications, 1990.  This includes lists for: Kent County, rent rolls 1681-1688, tax lists 1693, quit rents 1701-1713; New Castle County, tax lists 1693; Sussex County, rent rolls 1681-1688, tax lists 1693, quit rents 1702-1713. The quit rent records often contain valuable genealogical information.
 * 1693 - , Bedminster, Pennsylvania: The Press, 1994. This book contains information for 1693 on the three Delaware counties as well as Philadelphia, Bucks, and Chester Counties in Pennsylvania.
 * 1782 - , Harold B. Hancock. Wilmington, Delaware: Delaware Genealogical Society, 1973. The publication below by Nelson is more complete and more fully indexed.
 * 1782 - , Ralph D. Nelson. Wilmington, Delaware: Delaware Genealogical Society, 1994. Contains tax lists for 1782 for all the "hundreds" of Delaware and 1782 census for seven of the "hundreds." This has maps on pages 5-6 and a list of the "hundreds" on p. 4. There is a Soundex cross reference list (to surnames) at the end of the book.
 * 1790 - , Leon DeValinger, Jr. Reconstructed 1790 Census of Delaware. Washington, DC: National Genealogical Society, 1962. . This list was prepared from tax lists and is a useful census substitute.

Tax Laws
Delaware levied a tax on several classes of income in 1869, then abolished it in 1871.

Abraham Lincoln instituted the income tax in 1862, and on July 1, 1862, Congress passed the Internal Revenue Act, creating the Bureau of Internal Revenue (later renamed to the Internal Revenue Service). This act was intended to “provide Internal Revenue to support the Government and to pay interest on the Public Debt.” Instituted in the height of the Civil War, the “Public Debt” at the time primarily consisted of war expenses. For the Southern States that were part of the Confederate side of the Civil War, once Union troops took over parts of the Southern States, income tax were instituted on them.
 * To learn more about this Collection click here
 * To learn more about the Civil War taxes click here

What history has shown us is that while property taxes are locally levied, there is significant state involvement with the amount of tax local political subdivisions can levy, how property assessments are conducted, and what services local taxing subdivisions must provide for their residents. This comes at a cost to state taxpayers, because the state has obligations it must fund as well, with a limited amount of state tax dollars.

Nearly all states collect an annual tax on personal income, based on one's salary and other forms of "taxable income." The vast majority of states have what is known as a progressive tax code, which is essentially a sliding scale based on income, which requires those over a certain threshold to pay the highest rate. Some states have a flat tax that applies to all taxpayers regardless of income. Income taxes are used for a number of state goods and services available to residents, such as public education, police protection, and assistance for low-income individuals. Not all states collect income tax, but typically make up for it in other ways.

There are two types of taxes: federal and state. U.S. citizens need to be sure that they comply with both sets of tax laws.[1]