Wayne County KYGenWeb Reference Page

Topic:

TAX RECORDS

  Without going into tremendous detail, I want to
take you through time in the taxing laws in KY;
with many thanks to information found not only in
the old law books (Littells Statute Law of
Kentucky), but explanations from the KDLA and others.

  1792: The Commonwealth of Kentucky is formed.
The KY General Assembly approved legislation
which established a Permanent Revenue. Taxes were
to be paid on land, slaves, horses & mules,
covering horses, cattle, coaches & carriages,
billiard tables and retail stores. Those
responsible in each county for handling the
taxation were the Commissioners who did receive
pay for their responsibility; 6 shillings.
Another incentive offered the Commissioners was
that by serving, they were exempt from military
service! The County Clerk laid out the county
levy; the Sheriff was to collect; the State
Auditor was involved for any tax litigation
involving the Sheriff. So, the counties had the
Commissioner, Sheriff, County Clerk and possibly
the State Auditor in their taxation process; this
process began when the lists were distributed
normally by the last day of October.

  1793: In this year legislation was approved
allowing taxpayers to report in their home county
land they owned in other counties. If the land
owner was not a resident of KY but owned land
here, he could report it to any tax commissioner
in KY. Taxpayers were required to show the
acreage and county where the land lie. It was
this year that the land was broken down into
three categories – first, second and third rate
land. For 1st rate land, the owner paid 3
shillings; for 2nd rate land, 1 shilling and 6
pence and for 3rd rate land 9 pence per 100
acres. If a land owner felt that the commissioner
had “over rated” his land, he could appeal.

  1794: A Tax Commissioner’s Book was started
which included the name of the property owner,
the county, the watercourse that was nearby,
total number of acres owned, the land rate (1st,
2nd or 3rd), the amount of the tax, the year the tax was paid.

  1795: More information was to be entered on the
Commissioner’s form: the name of the person who
originally entered the land, the person’s name
who had the land surveyed and the name of the
person who had the land patented. If any of the
above wasn’t known by the current land owner the
Commissioner was to try to obtain the best
information he could. Additional columns were
added which showed the number of blacks above 16
and the total number of blacks.

  1797:  This legislation defined how the taxes
were to be paid “in Spanish milled dollars at the
rate of six shillings each, or in other current
silver or gold coins at a proportionable value.”
Land could now be sold if the land owner was
delinquent in his taxes with notices published by
the sheriff or collector at the court house door
and for three weeks in the “Kentucky Gazette” or
“Herald”, one month prior to the sale. The
Assembly also stated that “all male persons of
the age of sixteen years & upward and all females
slaves of the age of 16 years and upwards” were
to be considered tithable and chargeable for
defraying the levies.  This added to the
Commissioner’s job as he now had to keep a
written list of all tithable persons in the
family. If anyone tried to conceal a tithable and
was caught, he was subject to a 500 pound
penalty, in tobacco, which was payable to the
county and to the informant who turned the man
in. If the Tax Commissioner failed to report
someone, he was subject to a fine of 1000 pounds of tobacco.

  1798: An act was passed which amended and
revised an Act of December which had expired. No
title would be impaired if the land owner hadn't
registered with the auditor and tax
commissioners. Non-resident land owners were
issued refunds if their land had been classified
incorrectly forcing them to pay extra taxes.
Taxes for 1797 (paid in 1798) were reduced
one-third except the taxes for billiard tables (a
flat sum of 20 pounds annually set for these
instead of taxes). If the billiard table owner
failed to pay, he was fined $100 for every
offense (when found that people were using the
tables) – one-half of the fine went to the county
levy and the other half to the informant.

1799: Another amending act was passed reference
the Permanent Revenue law. The option of paying
the taxes by cut silver money was added. People
owning property in other counties who did not pay
the required tax for the land there were to be
reported by the tax commissioner to the State Auditor.

1800: The tax commissioner’s payment was covered
this year in which the auditor could not pay the
commissioner until he had received the certified
copy of the taxable property. The tax
commissioner turned in a list of his expenses (paper).

1801: Provisions were added to adjust the tax
rate and to establish a one-year waiting period
before the tax commissioner could serve as sheriff or deputy sheriff.

1804: A two-year grace period was given for the payment of delinquent taxes.

1810:  Legislation changed the way tax
commissioners were selected – now a fit person in
the bounds of each militia company was to receive
and take in all lists of taxable property within
the same. The taxpayers had to travel to the
militia company’s place of muster and file their
tax lists with the new commissioner between the
months of April and June. This was amended in
1811 to state that the taxpayers weren't bound to
participate in the muster. On some tax lists the
captain of that militIa company is named – not
meaning that individual had military service.

1821: An additional column added which showed the
number of children in each school district
between the ages of four and fourteen. This list
was also sent to the school commissioners in each
district. This does not appear in many of the
county tax lists and in 1840 an official form was
printed to identify the number of white children
between 7 & 17 years old in a household.

1824: This legislation clarified the payment of
taxes as some commissioners were evaluating the
land in gold and silver; some in Commonwealth Bank Paper.

1831: Amendment of the revenue laws – deleted the
“bound to a militia company” for tax
commissioners; now “the county courts shall
appoint one or more fit persons to receive and
take in lists of taxable property. The County
Clerk also had to now complete two separate books
– one for the State Auditor and one for the County Sheriff.

1837: Legislation stating that taxpayers, when
filing their lists, were required to fix, on
oath, money enough to cover what they shall be
worth, from all sources – on the day to which the
lists relate. Property that could be excluded by
law from taxation, (excluded the first $300, land
outside of KY or other property outside of KY),
now paid by an ad valorem tax. A growing crop and
a one year’s supply of crops for the family was not included.

1840: Regulated the duties of the Tax
Commissioners; the Entered, Surveyed & Patented to columns eliminated.

  So, what does all the above show me? (1) When
an ancestor moved to the county or out of the
county; (2) birth years can be estimated by using
the above 21 and between 16-21 columns; (3) the
inclusion of women’s name. (4) the omission of
the Entered, surveyed and patented fields – no
one alive who can remember, (5) if a man’s name
disappears from the list on one year and you are
sure he didn't move; then there is nothing on the
next year either, but on the next year a woman’s
name appears showing the same land …. It is
possible that the man had died; a woman had one
year to go through the sadness of her widowhood,
then had to start paying taxes. ALERT! Sometimes
she had someone else in the family or a neighbor
pay those taxes. The tax list is to show that so
and so paid FOR her, but most likely the tax list
will be shown in that individual’s name in the alphabetical listing.

And, as noted in earlier tip; the books were
kept in alphabetical order by the first initial
of the last name. I’s and J’s were written the
same and were on the same page(s). If the clerk
ran out of room on a page, he many times stuck
the name on any page – read through all the records, it’s worth the time!


© Copyright 23 Oct 2008, Sandra K. Gorin