The information recorded in tithable lists and personal property tax records changed over time. Changes to the tax system are recorded in the Hening's Statutes at Large and the Virginia Acts of Assembly. The following is an overview of some of the important changes made to these tax records:
- March 1657/8 – All African Americans, as well as all Indigenous "servants" (both male and female), over sixteen years of age were to be considered tithable (a person for whom taxes are owed).
- December 1662 – All female servants who performed agricultural labor were declared tithable.
- June 1680 – All Black children transported to Virginia were to be brought to court within three months and their ages judged by the justices and recorded. Black children already present were to be brought to court within three months of the passage of the law. Black and/or enslaved children were not considered tithable until twelve years of age, while white servants transported to Virginia were not tithable until age fourteen.
- October 1705 – All male persons sixteen years of age and over, as well as all Black, multiracial, and Indigenous women sixteen years and over, were declared tithable.
- 1723 – Tithable individuals included all free Black, multiracial, and Indigenous people (except tributary Indigenous tribes) above age sixteen and their wives. In addition to their tithable lists, all heads of households were required to list the names of every person between the ages of ten and sixteen “for whom any benefit of tending Tobacco is allowed by this Act.”
- 1782 – Personal property tax records include names of white male tithables, number of enslaved people both above and below age of sixteen (names not included on post-1786 lists); names of free Black people, often denoted as "free" or "FN" ("Free Negro"); and property such as horses and cattle, carriage wheels, ordinary licenses, billiard tables, etc.
- 1782-1787 – The taxable age was 21, although counties could choose to tax everyone over 16.
- 1787 – The taxable age changed to 16 for the entire state.
- 1810 – Tax amounts first reported in dollars and cents. Previous tax lists reported amounts in pounds, shillings, and pence.
- 1815 – Types of taxable property extensively expanded to include items such as specific pieces of furniture (by wood type), curtains, silver, mirrors, prints, oil portraits, and icehouses, all to aid in paying for expenses incurred during the War of 1812. The law was repealed in 1816.
- By the 1850s, personal property tax records contained the following entries arranged in columns:
- Names of persons chargeable with tax
- Number of free males sixteen years of age and upwards
- Number of enslaved people above sixteen years of age
- Number of white males twenty-one years of age and upwards
- Number of male “free Negroes” between twenty-one and fifty-five years of age
- Number of enslaved people twelve years of age and upwards
- Horses, mules, asses, and jennets (female donkeys)
- Cattle, sheep, and hogs
- Pleasure carriages, stage coaches, jersey wagons, carryalls, buggies, and gigs
- Watches
- Clocks
- Pianos and harps
- Gold and silver plate and jewelry
- Household and kitchen furniture
- Amounts of solvent bonds or other securities due
- Amount of capital (other than the value of the real estate) invested or used in a manufacturing or other unlicensed trade or business except agriculture
- Interest or profits over $6 arising from bonds or certificates of this or other states or counties, or of any public corporation created by this or any other state
- Amount of income in money over $100 from salary, fees, allowances, etc.
- Excess over $100 of yearly rent or annual value of toll bridges and ferries.
- Amount of exemptions in cattle, sheep, and horses; or personal property in lieu thereof
- 1866 – Formerly enslaved African American men over the age of twenty-one were taxed by name for the first time. Taxes were not assessed on women.
- 1890 – African Americans were listed in a separate part of each tax book from this year until 1965.
- 1922 – Women were subjected to paying the poll tax.
- 1927 – Taxable categories substantially reduced; tax books listed “Personal Property” and “Machinery” as taxable categories.
- 1970 – Abbreviated lists contain name of person, address, value and tax on personal property, machinery, and tools.
Digitized Legislative Publications
Pre-1782 tithable list changes can be tracked in Walter Hening's Statutes at Large, and post-1782 tax changes can be tracked through the Virginia Acts of Assembly.
