Many early tax lists, including burgher and freemen lists, exist back to about 1675. Tax records can substitute for census records as tools to locate where a family lived. The Family History Library has tax lists from the early 1700s for Dutchess County, New York City, and some other areas. The state archives has tax lists for the 1770s and 1780s, and Tax Assessment Rolls of Real Estate and Personal Estates for 1799–1804. These are arranged by county, year, and town. Tax lists from about 1850–1870 are filed in town clerk and county treasurers' offices, but they are not available on microfilm. The New York 1798 direct tax lists have not been located.

Some tax lists for the 1700s have been published in The New York Genealogical and Biographical Record. Some early New York City lists are in New York Historical Society, Tax Lists of the City of New York, December 1695 to July 15, 1699, in the series Collections of the New York Historical Society, vol. 43–44 (New York: The New-York Historical Society, 1911–12; FHL book 974.7 B4n v. 43–44; film 845302 item 3–4; computer number 204663).

The National Archives (D.C.) and the Family History Library have microfilm copies of the Assessment Lists of the Federal Bureau of Internal Revenue, 1862 to 1866 (FHL films 1534827–930, 1549027–102; computer number 462516). They are not indexed, but they are arranged by county. These lists are useful for locating a person's residence during the Civil War.

The National Archives—Northeast Region has assessment lists for New York, 1862–1917. These lists generally contain the names of the taxpayers (individuals and corporations), city of residence, articles or occupations taxed, and the amounts assessed and collected. The taxes during the civil War were gradually abolished until only taxes on liquor and tobacco remained in 1883. Corporate income taxes began in 1909. A draft inventory of these records is available on microfiche from the archives.

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TOWN RECORDS