Governments collect taxes to finance government projects and activities. Tax lists, records, receipts, and reports can provide some of the genealogical information we find in other types of genealogical records, such as name, date, and location.
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Genealogical relevant information in tax lists
Every tax list is different, and the information found will differ depending on the tax, year, and location. At the very least, the list will provide name, residence, date, and tax paid. But tax lists can include other information such as:
- Relationships (such as guardian or wife)
- Death (might list a widow or an estate, for example)
- Property
- Item/s tax is being paid on
It's possible that age can be ascertained from a tax record: for example, when men aged 21 and over are being taxed.
Taxes were paid on various items depending on location and time period, including land, property sales, and income.
Problems with tax lists
Not everyone will appear on a tax list. Only certain people will have been taxed, such as heads of households and men over 21 years of age. This means that enslaved ancestors will not be found paying taxes, though their enslavers might be paying taxes on the enslaved. Native people, women, children, and non-citizens may be absent in tax records, depending on the type of tax and who was required to pay it. However, don't assume someone won't be in a tax record until you learn more about the tax and who should appear in the records. While a woman may not ordinarily be featured in a tax paid by a head of household, her name might appear as the widow if her husband is deceased.
Not finding an ancestor on a tax list does not mean they did not live in the area or were deceased. Remember that tax lists do not include everyone who lives in a specific location. The tax record will likely list one person, most likely the head of household, that paid the tax. Unlike an every-name census, it will not list all family members.
The tax record will enumerate those who were required to pay a tax and actually paid the tax. This may be a small percentage of the population. As mentioned previously, some people may not have been required to pay the tax. For example, poll taxes were collected from those who had the right to vote and voted in a specific election. Learning more about the types of taxes collected for a location and when can help the researcher avoid frustration in searching for records that don't exist for a specific time period. Some taxes were temporary to fund a war, for example.
While not appearing on a tax list after years of being present might indicate a person's death, it does not automatically suggest the person is deceased by the date the list was created. Verify death with other records such as a death certificate or cemetery record.
Finding tax lists
Reading more about the location you are researching and existing tax lists can help you locate records.
Tax records may be available on genealogy websites. Consult the website's collection catalog for possible records.
Depending on the tax and who collected it, tax lists may be stored at various government archives. For example, a national or federal tax may be archived at a national archive. A local county tax record may be found in a county archive. Identify archives that house government records for the location you are researching. A search on the worldwide archival catalog ArchiveGrid for the word "tax" and the location may reveal collections. A search on ArchiveGrid should be done in addition to individual archive catalog searches because not all archives share their catalogs with ArchiveGrid.
More recent tax collection records for the mid to latter 20th and 21st centuries may be found online through a tax collector or county assessor's website. Some of these government agencies have online databases that can be searched by surname.
Explore more about Tax lists
- MyHeritage – Collection catalog – Tax
- U.S. Public Records Index on MyHeritage
- Using Tax Lists to Solve Genealogical Problems at Legacy Family Tree Webinars
- A Taxing Matter: Using Tax Lists in Genealogy at Legacy Family Tree Webinars
- Cyndi’s List – Taxes