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--- New Tax Page

Online Resources

 * 1862-1874 FamilySearch Images only.
 * 1862-1918 U.S. IRS Tax Assessment Lists, 1862-1918 for Maine Ancestry($)

Why Use Tax Records
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.

Tax Laws
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.


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Tax records were recorded by state and town officials. Many tax lists are included in town histories. Because Maine was part of Massachusetts until 1820, some Maine tax records will also be listed in the FamilySearch Catalog under Massachusetts. The Family History Library has microfilm copies of Massachusetts tax valuations for various years from 1760 to 1771, 1780 to 1792, and 1810 to 1811. They are listed in the Place Search of the FamilySearch Catalog under MASSACHUSETTS - TAXATION. Other tax records are listed in the Family History Library Place Search under MAINE, [COUNTY], [TOWN] - TOWN RECORDS.

The 1771 lists have been published in:

Pruitt, Bettye Hobbs, Editor. The Massachusetts Tax Valuation List of 1771. Boston, Massachusetts: G. K. Hall, 1978. (Family History Library .) This source lists the owner's name, property and buildings, real estate values, type of acreage, and livestock or produce. Includes an index.

The federal government required some tax assessments. The following work contains a 1798 direct tax census and surname index:

United States. Secretary of the Treasury. Massachusetts and Maine Direct Tax Census of 1798. Cambridge, Massachusetts: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 1978. ( Family History Library ; not available at Family History Centers.)

The original 1798 tax records are at the New England Historic Genealogical Society. These are described but not indexed in:

Gorn, Michael H., Editor. An Index and Guide to the Microfilm Edition of the Massachusetts and Maine Direct Tax Census of 1798. Boston, Massachusetts: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 1979. (Family History Library .)

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