Description: "During the Civil War, both the North and South were challenged by fiscal and monetary needs, but physical differences such as gold reserves, industrialization and the blockade largely predicted the war's outcome from the onset. To raise revenue for the war effort, every possible person, business, activity and property was assessed, but projections and collections were seldom up to expectations and waste, fraud and ineffectiveness in the administration of the tax systems plagued both sides. This economic history uses forensic examination of actual documents to examine the various taxes that developed from the Civil War, including the direct and poll taxes, which were dropped; the income tax, which stands today; and the war tax, which was effective for only a short time."--
Brief description: The late John Martin Davis, Jr., was a retired Dallas tax attorney and CPA who lived in Fort Davis, Texas. He was awarded an honorary doctorate in history by Sul Ross State University. An authority on Texas maps, he was a member of the Philosophical Society of Texas for the Collection and Diffusion of Knowledge.
Review Quotes: "Davis sheds light on one of the murkier corners of the Civil War, how it was financed, with a particular concentration on taxation...invaluable insights"--The NYMAS Review