North Dakota Taxation

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U.S. Taxation

North Dakota

Taxation

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None at this time

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.

How to Use Tax Records for North Dakota

County Level

County auditors have possession of tax rolls for North Dakota. Some rolls date from statehood and/or organization of the county and may be available at the State Archives and Historical Research Library, and the Chester Fritz Library.

State Level

North Dakota State Library
Liberty Memorial Bldg.
604 E Boulevard Ave
Capitol Grounds
Bismarck, ND 58505
North Dakota Library
The State Library holds printed volumes of source materials, and has county histories and other similar printed sources that circulate on interlibrary loan.

Chester Fritz Library
University of North Dakota
3051 University Ave
Grand Forks, ND 58202-9000
Chester Fritz Library
The family history room holds a variety of national and North Dakota printed source materials

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.

• See United States, Internal Revenue Assessment Lists - FamilySearch Historical Records for more information about the collection.
• See Income Tax Records of the Civil War Years at the National Archives for more information about Civil War taxes

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.