Department History

A Brief History of the New York State Department of Taxation & Finance

The New York State Department of Taxation & Finance was formally established January 1, 1927, but its roots trace back to the 1859 creation of a state Board of Equalization of Assessments. The Board was charged with devising the formula for distributing state tax revenue to individual counties, but not the collection of revenue. The Board comprised the Commissioners of the Land Office and the state Board of Assessors.

In 1896, the state Board of Tax Commissioners was formed. Its duties were still the assessment and not the collection of taxes, but it could hear appeals on behalf of local tax districts from the equalizations made by the county Board of Supervisors, and it could revise these equalizations.

In 1915, the state Tax Department assumed all duties of the state Comptroller involving corporation taxes, except for their collection. It was also given the authority to order reassessment in any tax district where it suspected that the rolls were inaccurate or inequitable. Assessments of the franchise tax on net income of business corporations was also regulated by the Tax Department.

In 1921, the Tax Department was made responsible for the administration of the inheritance, personal income and stock transfer taxes, and the collection of the corporation franchise taxes.

In 1927, all the duties of the state Treasurer and Comptroller regarding collection of taxes was transferred to the new Department of Taxation & Finance.

Today, the Department of Taxation & Finance is among the largest state revenue collection agencies in the nation, responsible for the collection of over $34 billion in revenues for state and local governments in state Fiscal Year 1998.

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Last Modified July 2, 1999