Rhode Island Taxation

Online Resources

 * 1862-1874 - U.S., Internal Revenue Assessment Lists, 1862-1874 at FamilySearch. Images only. (Scroll to camera click to open) Districts listed below
 * 1867-1873 - Rhode Island, tax assessment lists, 1867-1873 (go to district and date you want, click on camera to view)

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
Rhode Island county tax records pre-date the American Revolution and many can be found in the town clerk's office, town records , and at Rhode Island State Archives. The clerk's office usually has an inventory of tax list holdings.

State Level

 * 1862-1866 Internal revenue assessment lists for Rhode Island 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) (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.

DISTRICT 1: Cities of New Port, and Providence; Twps. of Barrington, Bristol, Cumberland, East Providence, Little Comption, Middletown, North Providence Pawtucket, Portsmouth, Smithfield, Tiverton, Warren DISTRICT 2: Twps of Burrillville, Charlestown, Coventry, Cranston, East Greenwich, Exeter, Foster, Glocester, Hopkinton, Jamestown, Johnston, New Shoreham, North Kingstown, Richmond, Scituate, South Kingstown, Warwick Westerly, West Greenwich

Many Tax lists are at: Rhode Island State Archives''' Address: 82 Smith St. Rm. 208 Providence, RI 02903 Phone: (401) 222- 2473 Email: statelibrary@sos.ri.gov

Rhode Island Historical Society Address: 110 Benevolent St. Providence, RI 02906 Phone: (401) 331-8575 Rhode Island Historical Society (Their collection on line)



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.