Federal Property Tax Act of 1798 II

We have seen how on July 7, 1798 Congress passed a law authorizing valuation of three kinds of property for tax purposes--dwelling houses worth more than $100, slaves, and "land"--including dwelling houses worth less than $100. This essay shows how each piece of property was taxed by the July 14 law. Interesting to me is the rate of taxation--the following is a fairly progressive tax structure. Because the "dwelling house" was the largest source of revenue from the July 14, 1798 law, I will quote the relevant section in detail:

"Upon every dwelling-house which, with the out-house appurtenant thereto, and the lot whereon the same are erected, not exceeding two acres in any case, shall be valued in manner aforesaid (i.e., in the July 7 law) at more than one hundred, and not more than five hundred dollars, there shall be assessed in the manner herein provided, a sum equal to two tenths of one per centum on the amount of the valuation; upon every dwelling-house which shall be valued as aforesaid, at more than five hundred, and not more than one thousand dollars, there shall be assessed a sum equal to three tenths of one per centum on the amount of the valuation; upon every dwelling-house which shall be valued as aforesaid, at more than one thousand dollars, and not more than three thousand dollars, there shall be assessed a sum equal to four tenths of one per centum on the amount of the valuation: upon every dwelling-house which shall be valued as aforesaid, at more than three thousand, and not more than six thousand dollars, there shall be assessed a sum equal to one half of one per centum on the amount of valuation: upon every dwelling-house which shall be valued as aforesaid, at more than six, and not more than ten thousand dollars, there shall be assessed a sum equal to six tenths of one per centum on the amount of the valuation: upon every dwelling-house which shall be valued as aforesaid, at more than ten, and not more than fifteen thousand dollars, there shall be assessed a sum equal to seven tenths of one per centum on the amount of the valuation: upon every dwelling-house which shall be valued as aforesaid, at more than fifteen, and not more than twenty-thousand dollars, there shall be assessed a sum equal to eight tenths of one per centum on the amount of the valuation: upon every dwelling-house which shall be valued as aforesaid, at more than twenty, and not more than thirty thousand dollars, there shall be assessed a sum equal to nine tenths of one per centum on the amount of the valuation, and upon every dwelling-house which shall be valued as aforesaid, at more than thirty thousand dollars, there shall be assessed a sum equal to one per centum on the amount of the valuation." Section 2.

So, how much do you have to pay for slaves?

"And upon every slave which shall be enumerated according to the aforesaid, there shall be assessed fifty cents."

We learn that the "lands" category is a sort of residual or "make whole" category, which "makes up" the remaining amoung owed by the state. That is, if all the taxable income in the first two categories for New Hampshire, for example, equalled the total tax burden from that state, then no "land" in category three would be taxed. Or, in the legalese of the statue:

"And the whole amount of the sums so to be assessed upon dwelling houses and slaves within each state respectively, shall be deducted from the sum hereby apportioned each state, and the remainder of the sum shall be assessed upon the lands within such state according to the valuations to be made pursuant to the act aforesaid, and at such per centum as will be sufficient to produce the said remainder..." Id.

The Direct Tax Lists

This was the first property tax assessed on its citizens by the Congress of the United States of America. Until 2004 the only tax records that existed of this tax were of scattered Pennsylvania taxations, but in that year an archivist at the National Archives, Michael T. Moore, located more than 900 "Particular List" valuation slps for Kent and Warren, CT (Litchfield County). These valuation slips, which were authorized by the July 7, 1798 law, describe dwelling houses and other real property owned on October 1, 1798 (it took more than three months for the assessors to get out into the field). Then, the tax collection list or rate bill, authorized by the July 14, 1798 law identified how much tax each person owed for the dwelling places and land.

With the 2005 discovery of 200 more "Particular lists," we now have a complete inventory of all real property in these towns at 1798. We have this for no other town in America, and they are a treasure trove of valuable information on the economic and social reality of one CT town. Expect someone to write a doctoral dissertation sometime soon on the "shape" of those two CT towns at the end of the 18th century. Here is a fuller description of these CT lists.

Conclusion

It is all well and good to do our statutory and historical "archaeological" work on this first federal property tax, but even more interesting are the effects of the tax. It spawned a rebellion that led to a treason trial for the leader of that rebellion, a death sentence, a Presidential pardon and, finally, an impeachment trial of the United States Supreme Court Justice who judged the rebel's trial. Whoa. Big stuff. My final essay introduces a few of these things.

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