----- Original Message ----- From: "Mark Murphy" <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Thursday, May 24, 2001 7:56 AM Subject: [NCORANGE] Polls > Does anyone know what is meant by Black & White Polls, as in the > following? Seems to have something to do with taxes: > Mark, besides the property tax, the "poll" (or "head") tax was a way for early governments to raise money to operate with. Essentially, we are talking about a 'head count' when we say '2 polls'. The definition of a 'poll' or 'taxable' varied with changes in the law. The Colony of NC began their poll tax in 1715. A 1715 law enacted by the general assembly defined taxables as all free males sixteen years of age and over and all slaves, male and female, aged twelve and over. This law was revised in 1749 basically to include all non-whites (including persons of mixed blood) age 12 and over whether slaves or not. Numerous changes were made after the Colony achieved statehood. Larry Noah - [email protected] Listowner for NCOrange-L, BrickChurchNC-L, NOAH-L, BELK-L and BEARSE-L.