Daily AncestorPoor tax
A poor tax was a local tax a town, township or county raised to pay for poor relief.
Under poor laws modeled on England's, each community paid for its own poor, so a poor tax was raised locally. In Vermont it paid for the overseers' work. In Chester Township, New Jersey, the overseers' minutes from 1799 to 1826 record the collection of state, county, dog and poor taxes.
Where poor tax lists survive, they name the people who paid, so they can place an ancestor in a town in a given year like any other local tax list.
As seen in a recordTownship tax list, New Jersey, early 1800s
John Hedden, poor tax, $1.25
Sources
How to cite this page
Daily Ancestor. "Poor tax." Dictionary of Old Record Words. https://dailyancestor.com/dictionary/poor-relief/poor-tax. Last checked 2026-10-03.