Boston Tax Records: 1780-1821

The so-called tax books represent the third stage in the record keeping process. In the tax books, individuals are again listed in rough alphabetical order, now along with both the assessed values of their property and, for the first time, itemized records of taxes owed. When two sets of tax books are present for a given year, actual payments are only recorded in one of the two sets, which in this collection are labeled as set "B" through 1816 and set "A" from 1817 through 1821.

In this example, from the 1804 tax book for ward 2 (set B), the assessed values of property for each taxpayer are recorded in the columns on the left-hand page. Recorded on the right-hand page are actual amounts of tax due, broken down by types of tax (poll, real estate, personal estate) and calculated for both state and town/county. Whether taxes were paid by or abated for each individual is indicated in the far left column.