Kansas Tax Token (2 mills)

Here is something we have never seen before.  A Kansas 2 Tax Token.  I know, you are wondering what that is.  Let me explain, it is a little complicated.

Kansas State Tax Token - 2 mills

Kansas State Tax Token - 2 mills

Before World War I when states decided to start charging sales tax, merchants were having a hard time paying the sales tax because there was not any denomination smaller then a penny.  See, if a merchant sold a piece of candy for 10 cents and sales tax was 3%.  He could not charge sales tax because no one had 1.3 cents.  He could not sell the candy for 10 cents without charging sales tax, then, if he sold 100 pieces of candy in a day he would be losing 30 cents to sales tax.  That is when the states came up with the tax token.

Kansas State Tax Token

Kansas State Tax Token

Now the merchant could charge 11 cents for the candy and give change back in tax tokens which were essentially mills (.1 cent).  When the person came back to purchase next time they could pay with the tax with the tax tokens instead.  An interesting fact is that Kansas was the first state to suspend the token in July of 1939.  The last state to suspend the use was Missouri, they did not stop using them until 1961.

9 Comments »

  1. Kansas Tax Token Said,

    August 28, 2008 @ 1:25 pm

    [...] Here is an interesting piece of US history.  A Kansas state tak token.  It is in the amount of 2 mills.  There is an interesting yet obvious history about the tax token.  You can see pictures and read the history here. [...]

  2. Charlie Said,

    May 23, 2009 @ 8:45 pm

    What year did they start using these tax tokens????
    And how much do you think a kansas 2k tax token is worth today????

  3. LORI FAGEN Said,

    September 28, 2009 @ 12:13 pm

    we found this token in our grandmothers stuff and were just wondering if it was worth anything, kansas tax token (2)
    thank you
    Lori

  4. jane banners Said,

    April 12, 2010 @ 7:51 pm

    I found one token. Want to sell if it is worth it. What is one worth?

  5. Lance Gould Said,

    May 6, 2010 @ 6:56 pm

    I just found one of these tokens in my back yard after all these years. Are they even worth anything?

  6. brian goodness Said,

    May 19, 2010 @ 9:40 pm

    I have a 2 mill kansas sales tax token in very good condition, and was just wondering what, if anything, they are worth now. Can you help me?

  7. Auggie4000 Said,

    May 19, 2010 @ 9:50 pm

    From all the research I have done, they aren’t really worth anything. Although worth is truly in the eye of the collector. How bad they want it versus how much the want to pay.

  8. Angela Posey-Arnold Said,

    July 2, 2010 @ 9:30 am

    We have a bunch of these but ours are Alabama Tax tokens.

  9. Sam Friesen Said,

    July 26, 2010 @ 8:47 am

    I have Kansas tax tokens in the two mill that are made of aluminum and two mill that are either a dark painted aluminum or they are fiber. I also have tokens that are one mill made of aluminum and they have a hole in the center. Could you perchance give me a ballpark value. They were in my mother-in-law’s things and we need to settle the estate.

    Thanks in advance for your attention to this matter.
    Sam Friesen

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