Tax records can place someone in a certain location at a point in time, give you a glimpse into their finances, and provide lists of luxury items they owned.

There are three basic types of direct tax records (taxes paid from a person to the government): poll, property, and personal or income taxes. All three tax types are sometimes found on the same record. Read more about Historical Tax Lists.
 

Search tax lists

(Or click the Search tab > select Card Catalogue > select Court, Land, Wills, & Financial > select Tax Lists > click Search entire Tax Lists Category.)

On the Tax Lists page, enter information and click Search.  
 

Check the tax roll for people who share the last name of the person you’re looking for since it may list family members who lived in the same area. When unsure whether the people you find are related, research their names, looking for a connection.

Research the tax type and year to learn who should and shouldn't be on the list before concluding someone's appearance in the records. For example, the age at which men were required to pay a poll tax has changed many times. If you can't find someone in tax records after a certain year, they may have moved or are no longer required to pay the tax. Check collection descriptions and descriptive information in publications for information about the tax records you’re searching for.

Resources

• U.S. IRS Tax Assessment Records: Our largest collection of tax records. These records often contain details like occupation, luxury items or income being taxed, and the name and address of the person taxed.
• St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands, Slave Plantation, and Town Head Tax Lists: This collection contains images of plantation and town head tax lists from the island of St. Croix in the Danish West Indies (today, the U.S. Virgin Islands) from 1772–1821.
• Georgia, Property Tax Digests: This collection contains tax digest books for 137 Georgia counties from 1793–1892, making the collection a valuable census substitute. The books list taxpayers' names and assessments of value for various types of property and assets. These records should include all men 21 and over and all women who owned property and include the names of African American freedmen.