Kansas Taxation

Online Resources

 * 1862-1874 U.S., Internal Revenue Assessment Lists at FamilySearch. Images only.
 * 1862-1918 U.S. IRS Tax Assessment Lists at Ancestry($). This collection includes annual, monthly and special assessment lists.
 * 1895-97, 1899-1900 Leavenworth, Kansas Tax List at Ancestry($). Researchers will find the name of the taxpayer and the township in which they lived.
 * 1900-1920 - *Leavenworth County, Kansas Tax Payers at Ancestry($). This record includes the name of the taxpayer, the year they paid the tax, and the post office where they received mail.

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
For the most part, tax records remain at the local level. Assessment and tax rolls are kept permanently by the County Treasurer's office.

The journal articles listed below can be seen only at the FamilySearch Library in Salt Lake City or at the Kansas State Historical Society in Topeka, KS.

The following are part of a Journal Article called "The Kansas Review: Farmers land & trust, tax register 1886-1889" They are Extracts from the Farmers Loan & Trust, tax register, for the years 1886-1889 and include the following Counties:

1. The Kansas review: Farmers land & trust, tax register 1886-1889 - v. 30-31 (2004-2006) - v. 30, no. 2 (Nov. 2004) p. 45-55 the counties Ford, Finney, Meade, and Sedgwick  2. The Kansas review: Farmers land & trust, tax register 1886-1889 - v. 30-31 (2004-2006) - v. 30, no. 1 (Aug. 2004)  p. 21-27 the counties Ford, Kiowa, McPherson, Pawnee, Pratt & Woodson 3. The Kansas review:  Farmers land & trust, tax register 1886-1889 - v. 30-31 (2004-2006) - v. 30, no. 3 (Feb. 2005)  p. 88-93 the counties Kiowa and Stevens 4. The Kansas review: Farmers land & trust, tax register 1886-1889 - v. 28-29 (2002-2004) - v. 28, no. 3 (Feb. 2003) p. 82-86 the counties Montgomery, Chautauqua, Stafford, Hodgeman, Kingman, Sumner & Saline  by Ruth Bennett Sanderson. Surnames covered, Wright, Reed, Phillis, Lockett, Coffey; To be continued in Vol. 28, No. 4. Includes bibliographical references.

State Level

 * 1862-1866 Internal revenue assessment lists for Kansas Internal revenue assessment lists for Kansas were created into divisions no Districts, but were done by years and reports, No County listed either.

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

Roll 1: 1. division 1-9, annual lists 1864 2. division 1-9, monthly and special lists 1864 Aug-Oct 3. division 1-9, monthly and special lists 1864 Oct-Dec 4. division 1-9, monthly lists 1863 Sep-1864 Jul 5. division 1-9, special lists 1864 6. division 1-11, annual lists 1863 7. division 1-15, monthly lists 1862 Sep-1863 Aug Roll 2: 1. annual, monthly and special lists 1865 Roll 3: 1. division 1-12, annual, monthly and special lists 1866

Kansas county assessment rolls of real and personal property are often in the County Appraiser's Office. These tax rolls show who was assessed, a description of the property with the taxable valuation and the amount of the tax.

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.
 * 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.