Sources

at the National Archives for Genealogical and Local History Research

Sources has been developed as a guide to interested researchers of varying levels of expertise . In each issue that it appears , Sources will focus on the uses of federal records for local and family history research . Many of the records discussed have been microfilmed and are available for use at the National Archives

building in Washington , D.C. , at its 11 regional branches , or may be purchased . Discussion of how to interpret and analyze federal records , examples of re- search problems and solutions , and information on related non - federal records will assist researchers in their work .

Income Tax Records

of the Civil War Years

By Cynthia G. Fox

A

sk any adult American the significance of April 15th and the response will al- most always be , " income tax . " April 15th is a magic date , the last date that can appear on the outside of the envelope we mail to some remote tax center run by the all- powerful Internal Revenue Service . By and large , we American taxpayers are an honest lot . We fill out our 1040 forms , make out the check , are grateful to have tax time over , and pray we don't get audited .

What else do we know about the income tax ? We were taught in school that the Constitution as originally written did not include permission for the federal government to levy direct taxes on individual citizens . To correct this deficiency the sixteenth amendment was proposed and ra- tified on February 25 , 1913 , giving Congress the power to tax incomes " from whatever source derived . " Many people believe that this was the first income tax that Americans had to pay . However , the first income tax was actually lev- ied almost fifty - one years earlier by an act of Congress on July 1 , 1862 ( 12 Stat . 432 ) . The rec- ords of that first income tax are a valuable source for family and local history .

The Civil War income tax was the first tax paid on individual incomes by residents of the United States . It was a " progressive " tax in that it ini- tially levied a tax of 3 percent on annual incomes over $ 600 but less than $ 10,000 and a tax of 5 percent on any income over $ 10,000 . In 1864 the rates increased and the ceiling dropped so that incomes between $ 600 and $ 5,000 were taxed at 5 percent , with a 10 percent rate on the excess over $ 5,000 . Passed as an emergency measure to finance the Union cause in the Civil War , the first income tax generated approximately $ 55 million in government revenues during the war . Paying the taxes was viewed as part of the pa- triotic war effort , and the whole country was proud when the merchant prince A. T. Stewart

250 WINTER 1986