Cuyahoga County OHGenWeb

Taxes

Taxes have been collected pretty much forever. There have been federal, state, county, and local taxes. Ancestry has a lot of IRS Tax Assessments 1862-1918, but Ohio is not included. Ohio state began sales taxes in 1934, but income taxes did not begin until 1960. These records would not be easily available. Recent municpal taxes are not likely very available either. However, the old township taxes may be found in the early records. It takes a bit of perseverance. However, the records we use most are the county taxes which began very early.

The County tax books at Cuyahoga County archives have three sections. The first is for real property. Some of these are divided between resident and non-resident. (This is important for researchers trying to prove residency, as many people owned property who may have never lived in Ohio.) The second section is for personal property. This included anyone of age who owned property such as horses and cows. More taxable items were added as time went on, so could include watches, pianos, carriages, etc. The third section is for occupations. Most frequently this includes physicians and attorneys. Later there may be engineers and other highly skilled practitioners. These follow one after the other within each township listing.

Another type of tax, found especially in Pennsylvania is for Freemen -- those who are not married and do not hold property. They have often just come of age.

Other than the property owned, one can get much other information from tax records. A good estimate of a death year may be indicated by the wife suddenly paying taxes. When a person comes of age might be estimated by his first appearance in the taxes. A tax assessor may make marginal notes or use titles such as jr or sr or younger. (This does not always indicate a relationship, but often an age difference.)

Taxes were collected by the Assessor or Treasurer. The records were held by the Auditor. He was required to make two copies - one for his office, and one for the treasurer. The treasurer copy is called a duplicate. These are the ones most likely to be discovered. The original records sometimes exist, and they are in the order collected. The duplicate records are usually in some sort of alphabetical order for ease of use.

Additionally one might find delnquent taxes. They are often printed in the newspaper. Sometimes delinquent ones are added into the following year in the tax records indicating late payment.

Some Links of Interest (all off-site)

• Index to "Tax Resident Duplicate for Cuyahoga County" for 1811 on GenWeb Archives.
• Family Search catalog has tax records for Cuyahoga County for 1816-1838 on six microfilms. These are copies from the Ohio Historical Society. Townships are indexed starting in 1830. From 1816-1825, the records are arranged by the first letter of the surname and from 1826-1838 they are organized by township and then the first letter of the surname. Search for "Ohio, Cuyahoga" and scroll down to "taxation" to see the film numbers.
• FamilySearch also has some Ohio County tax images in "Ohio Tax Records, 1800-1850." They do not include Cuyahoga yet, but do include parent counties, Trumbull and Washington.
• The Cuyahoga County Auditor (now called the "Fiscal Officer") also keeps tax records.
• Cuyahoga County Archives has tax duplicates for 1819-1986.
• See the Treasurer's office for current property tax status which gives owners, addresses, value of property and some description.