Taxation--Mississippi

Taxation is "the process by which the government of a country obtains money from its people in order to pay for its expenses." (Cambridge Dictionary) During the American Civil War and Reconstruction, the U.S. and Confederate governments expanded their taxation systems to fund their government operations, including military; likewise, state levied their own taxes to fund their respective state governments, including Mississippi. References to Mississippi state taxes and Mississippi residents paying federal taxes are found within this subject tag.

On July 1, 1862, U.S. Congress passed the progressive Internal Revenue Act, and in 1863, the Confederacy likewise authorized a graduated federal income tax that exempted wages up to $1,000, levied a 1% tax on the first $1,500 over the exemption, and 2% on all additional income. Confederate tax systems were even more complicated than the Union's, as states operating under war-time reconstruction governments paid U.S. federal taxes. Income taxes supplemented an already robust tax system that included federal duties, stamp taxes, and fees, among others. Civil War taxes were not immediately repealed at the end of the war but continued until 1872, when President Ulysses Grant's administration sponsored the repeal of most of the "emergency" taxes. (Cynthia G. Fox, "Income Tax Records of the Civil War Years," 18, no. 4 (1986), Genealogy Notes, National Archives)