Receiver of Taxes, Office of the

[Record group 97]

Agency Function

The Office of the Receiver of Taxes has been abolished and replaced with the Department of Revenue. This office's function was to receive all taxes and public assessments payable within the City; this was widened in 1870 and 1884 to include the receipt of delinquent taxes and monies due for the services of the Gas Works and the Water Department. The Bullitt Bill of 1885 extended the office's jurisdiction to the receipt of all monies due the City.

Agency History

The Office of the Receiver of Taxes was established by the Consolidation Act of 1854, effective in 1856,which replaced the former system of tax collectors appointed by the County Commissioners and City Councils. The Receiver was popularly elected to a two-year term (increased to three years in 1887 and to four in 1909). Until 1865, he, with the City Treasurer and the City Commissioners, formed the Board of Revision of Taxes. The Receiver of Taxes was abolished under the terms of the City Charter adopted in 1951 and the office's functions transferred to the then-established Department of Collections.

Archival Records

97.1 Confidential Files (1942-1952)

97.2 Tax Receipt Forms (1876-1886)

97.3 City Income Tax Regulations and Ordinances (1939, 1946)

97.4 Correspondence (1941-1951)

97.5 Excess Delinquent Water Payments (1946-1949)

97.6 Ward Control Accounts (1948-1949)

97.7 Miscellaneous Office Receipts from the Bureau of Markets and City Property (January 1951)

97.8 Wage and Income Tax Bureau, Weekly Reports (1949)

97.9 Real Estate Tax Division. Special Examination (1949)

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Last updated on November 8, 2000