The Quarterly of the Texas State Historical Association, Volume 14, July 1910 - April, 1911 Page: 7
This periodical is part of the collection entitled: Southwestern Historical Quarterly and was provided to The Portal to Texas History by the Texas State Historical Association.
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State Finances of Texas During the Civil War.
ever, the extent to which the state used its credit, for it does not
show the extent of indebtedness to special funds for assets trans-
ferred, or the floating debt.
By the close of the war a complex tax system had been developed
consisting of property and poll taxes, salary and occupation taxes.
The Property Tax
The ad valorem rate of the general property tax remained, against
the counsel of the governor, at 122 cents in 1861, with an addi-
tional 4 cents, collectible in specie, to meet the interest and provide
a sinking fund for the $1,000,000.00 loan authorized by the act
of April 8, 1861.1 In 1862 the rate for all purposes was raised to
25 cents, and in 1863 to 50 cents, which was the rate also in 1864.
At the above rates the taxes assessed were $465,494.00 in 1861,
$o0,609.00 in 1862, $1,675,954.00 in 1863, $1,790,959.00 in 1864,
--a total of $4,633,016.24. Assessed values showed a decrease in
1861 and 1862, but in 1863 they were $335,190,700.00, and in
1864, $358,101,886.00 as compared with $294,315,659 in 1860.
The number of acres of land, of negroes and other objects of as-
sessment changed but little during these years, so that the increase
in assessed values was due to higher valuations which were the re-
suit mainly of the inflated state of the currency.
The act of April 3, 18612 permitted non-residents of the coun-
ties to return land for taxation either in the county of their resi-
dence or in the county of its location, and the result was, as for-
nlerly, that a large amount escaped. Unrendered land amounted
to 34,659,321 acres in 1861, 29,320,425 in 1862, 47,854.029 in
1863, 34,970,258 in 1864, and 56,821,220 in 1865." The lands
sold to the state for taxes for the years 1861-1864 were 7,100,000
acres. Since from the beginning of statehood to 1861 the total
sold was 17,594,229 acres, the forfeitures during the war were ex-
traordinarily large. The total number of acres redeemed during
the period 18-16-1863 was only 1,065,600.4
'Gammel, Laws of Texas, V, 375.
'Ibid., V, 369.
8Report of Acting Provisional Comptroller, 1866.
'Comptroller's Report, 1868-9, pp. 110-111.
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Texas State Historical Association. The Quarterly of the Texas State Historical Association, Volume 14, July 1910 - April, 1911, periodical, 1911; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101054/m1/15/: accessed April 25, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.