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Internal Revenue assessment lists for Florida, 1865-1866.
Amount:
1.00 microfilm reel 35 mm.
Medium Included:
Organization/Arrangement:
Arranged by assessment category, then chronological.
Restrictions:
Terms Governing Use:
Biographical/Historical:
The Internal Revenue Act of July 1, 1862 (12 Stat. 432), was intended "to provide Internal Revenue to support the Government and to pay Interest on the Public Debt." Monthly specific and ad valorem duties were placed on manufactures, articles, and products ranging from ale to zinc. Monthly taxes were levied on the gross receipts of transportation companies; on interest paid on bonds; on surplus funds accumulated by financial institutions and insurance companies; on gross receipts from auction sales; and on sales of slaughtered cattle, hogs, and sheep. Gross receipts from newspaper advertisements were subject to a quarterly tax. Annual licenses were required for all trades and occupations, and annual duties were placed on carriages, yachts, billiard tables, and gold and silver plate. An annual tax was also levied on all income in excess of $600, and legacies and distributive shares of personal property were made taxable. Stamp duties were imposed on legal and business documents and on medical preparations, playing cards, perfumery, and cosmetics. All persons, partnerships, firms, associations, or corporations submitted to the assistant assessor of their division a list showing the amount of annual income, articles subject to the special tax or duty, and the quantity of goods made or sold that were to be charged with a specific or ad valorem tax or duty. The assistant assessors collected these lists and compiled two general lists, each in alphabetical order: (1) a list of names of all persons residing in the division who were liable for taxation and (2) a list of names of all persons residing outside the division who were owners of property in the division; and under each person's name, the value, assessment, or enumeration of taxable income or items and the amount of duty or tax due. These lists were delivered to the assessor concerned, who examined them in detail, corrected any errors, and approved them. The assessor then advertised the name of the place where the lists could be reviewed. Appeals were heard for 15 days. After the examination and appeal, the assessor compiled lists of the sums due from each division in his district. He supplied copies of these lists to the collector, who then gave notice that taxes were due and collected them.
The effective date for the taxes to be levied was set by the Secretary of the Treasury as September 1, 1862. Because of the lack of adequate definitions in the act, the complexity of the tax schedules, and the variations in assessment dates, some of the annual duties were not levied until the following May. By May 1863 a high degree of uniformity in detailed instructions, regulations, decisions, and forms had been developed. Individual assistant assessors, however, continued to use forms for purposes other than those for which they were intended, and to enumerate and assess taxable property in the manner they considered most convenient.
The original Internal Revenue Act was significantly modified by an amendment dated March 3, 1863 (12 Stat. 713), and by the Internal Revenue Act of June 30, 1864 (13 Stat. 223). Congress, by joint resolution dated July 4, 1864 (13 State. 417), levied a special income tax, which was to be assessed separately from the existing income tax.
An act of Congress approved on December 24, 1872 (17 Stat. 401), abolished the offices of assessors and assistant assessors effective July 1, 1873. On May 20, 1873, these offices were closed and the assessment lists were shipped to the Office of the Commissioner of Internal Revenue, Washington, D.C.
Summary:
This series consists of microfilm of bound volumes of tax assessment lists for the single collection district established for the State of Florida by Executive Order dated May 4, 1865. The lists were created in the offices of assessors and assistant assessors of Internal Revenue during the period 1865-1866. The assessment lists are divided into three basic categories: annual, monthly, and special. The entries in the annual and monthly lists are for taxes assessed or collected in those specific periods. The special lists augment the incomplete annual and monthly lists. They also include the taxes that were labeled by the assessors as "special"; for example, the special income tax of October 1864.
There are no lists for Divisions 7 and 8 for 1865. When special lists occur, they follow the monthly lists.
Finding Aids:
Additional Physical Form:
Reproduction Note:
Microfilm.
Location of Originals/Duplicates:
National Archives, Washington, D.C., from the Records of the Internal Revenue Service, Record Group 58.
for detailed listing.