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Tax Page

Online Resources
Early Tax records  Images of many North Carolina county tax lists: Years and Counties vary starting at 1720...;   online Collection
 * 1833-1970 North Carolina, County Records, 1833-1970
 * 1864–1866 - Internal Revenue Assessment List for North Carolina, 1864–1866 at FamilySearch   Scroll down click on camera to open.  (Districts listed below under State Level)

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.

State Level
1864-1872 Internal Revenue Assessment Districts

DISTRICT 1: Beaufort, Bertie, Camden, Chowan, Currituck, Gates, Halifax, Hertford, Hyde, Martin, Northampton, Pasquotank, Perquimans, Tyrrell, and Washington DISTRICT 2: Carteret, Craven, Duplin, Edgecombe, Greene, Jones, Lenoir, New Hanover, Onslow, Pitt, Wayne, and Wilson DISTRICT 3: Anson, Bladen, Brunswick, Columbus, Cumberland, Harnett, Montgomery, Moore, Richmond, Robeson, Sampson, and Stanly DISTRICT 4: Chatham, Franklin, Granville, Johnston, Nash, Orange, Wake, and Warren DISTRICT 5: Alamance, Caswell, Davidson, Forsyth, Guilford, Person, Randolph, Rockingham, Stokes, and DISTRICT 6: Alexander, Cabarrus, Catawba, Davie, Gaston, Iredell, Lincoln, Mecklenburg, Rowan, Union, Wilkes, and DISTRICT 7: Alleghany, Ashe, Buncombe, Burke, Caldwell, Cherokee, Clay, Cleveland, Haywood, Henderson, Jackson, Macon, Madison, McDowell, Mitchell, Polk, Rutherford, Transylvania, Watauga, and Yancey.



Tax Laws
Tax records have been kept consistently in North Carolina from colonial times. Generally two types of taxes were used: taxes on people, known as poll or capitation tax, and taxes on property. Tax lists from the mid-eighteenth century to the 1900s exist for many counties and have been microfilmed. Copies are at the North Carolina State Archives and at the Family History Library. They include poll tax records, railroad tax books, taxable land lists, personal property tax lists, and records of delinquent taxes.

Until 1777 the poll tax was used almost exclusively, and it was used consistently until 1970. Over the years laws have changed the definition of who would be counted in the taxing. For example, the age at which men no longer had to pay taxes varied in different time periods, and during some periods new residents of the state were exempt from being taxed. In 1715 North Carolina began collecting taxes from the head of the household for all free males aged 16 or over and all slaves aged 12 or over. In 1835 the ages were changed to 21 to 45 for free males and 12 to 50 for slaves. Some early lists name each taxable person, so you may find a listing for both a father and his sons. Later lists generally give only the name of the head of a household and the number of additional taxable persons in the home.

The earliest property tax records date from 1715, though property tax did not become common until 1777.

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