Nebraska Taxation: Difference between revisions

== Online Resources ==

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 Nebraska ==

=== County Level ===

County tax records, real and personal, are located in the office of the county treasurer at the county seat. Many tax records are still held at the county level; many taken before 1912 have been sent to the Nebraska State Historical Society.  The researcher should contact the Archives at the society to learn of its holdings for a particular county before contacting the county.<ref>[https://wiki.rootsweb.com/wiki/index.php/Nebraska_Tax_Records Red Book]</ref>

=== State Level ===

The Nebraska State Historical Society is continually collecting county records. At present they have tax records for forty-three counties and assessment records for many others, All for various periods of time. <ref>[https://wiki.rootsweb.com/wiki/index.php/Nebraska_Tax_Records Red Book]</ref>

[http://history.nebraska.gov/ Nebraska State Historical Society]<br>

The Nebraska State Historical Society preserves records from most of Nebraska's ninety-three counties on microfilm or in original paper form. Collections include tax records.  For information about these collections: from the Menu under Divisions choose Collections > Government Records Finding Aids > County Government records, and choose the county.

[https://history.nebraska.gov/collections/county-government-records Nebraska County Government Records]

[[Image:Tax money bag.jpg|right|200px|]]

== 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. <ref>[https://search.ancestry.com/search/db.aspx?dbid=1264  Creation of the IRA]</ref>

*To learn more about this Collection click [https://www.familysearch.org/wiki/en/United_States,_Internal_Revenue_Assessment_Lists_(FamilySearch_Historical_Records) here]

*To learn more about the Civil War taxes click [https://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/1986/winter/civil-war-tax-records.html here]

== References ==

<References/>

{{Nebraska | Nebraska}}

[[Category: Nebraska, United States]]

[[Category:Taxation]]