Florida Taxation

Online Resources

 * 1862-1874 - U.S., Internal Revenue Assessment Lists at FamilySearch.org. Images only.

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
Examples of the kind of tax records you might find are: land taxes, poor taxes, school taxes, and county road taxes. Also included at the county level are assessors’ books, railroad tax books, collectors’ books, taxable land lists, delinquent taxes, and road tax books. Other items that have been listed as taxable are: Number of males above taxable age (twenty-one), slaves, horses, wagons, and items of personal property such as jewelry, watches, musical instruments, and carriages

State Level
Copies of the above mentioned microfilms are also available from the State Archives of Florida. The archives also has manuscript tax records.

Tax rolls between census years, can be a gold mine for researchers. Although most existing rolls can be found in the counties of origin, the Florida State Archives has some bound volumes covering the period of 1829-1881. These may also be on microfilm at libraries throughout Florida. However, the series annually prepared by the tax assessor, is incomplete for most counties and varies greatly from year to year in the details recorded. Tax rolls can be valuable resources to document an individual's migration. Some of the counties' records in the series are incomplete, but there are some in the Florida State Archives that the originating counties no longer have. This collection is not indexed and must be searched in the county and/or at the Florida State Archives.

Florida State Archives, Division of Library and information Services, phone # 850-245-6700, e-mail: archives@dos.myflorida.com State Archives of Florida

Tax Laws
Tax lists in Florida can be an important supplement to early census and land records. After Florida became a state, tax records of various kinds were kept in the counties and towns. In July of 1862, Congress passed the Internal Revenue Act to provide income for the Government to pay the public debt including Civil War costs. After the Civil War, taxes were abolished until only a tax on liquor and tobacco remained in 1883. An 1895 Supreme Court ruling declared that income tax was unconstitutional and led to the ratification of the sixteenth amendment in 1913 which states that Congress has the power to establish and collect taxes on incomes.

To learn more about the United States internal revenue assessment lists collection click here

If you wish more information on Florida's roll in the Civil War click here. When Union soldiers took over Confederate lands they became taxable by the United States government.